


The Shadows Between the Stars

by HeRell_77



Series: Far From Home [5]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Anal, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Bad Parenting, Bears, Demonic Possession, Demons, Depression, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, Gender Dysphoria, Goddesses, Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Torture, Knotting, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Character of Color, LGBTQ Female Character, Lesbian Character, Multi, Oral Sex, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pansexual Character, Past Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, Polyamory, Rape/Non-con Elements, Royalty, Slurs, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Threesome, Threesome - F/F/M, Torture, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, Transphobia, Vaginal Sex, Violence, Witches, bear shifter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-01-23 05:49:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 28
Words: 72,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21315214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeRell_77/pseuds/HeRell_77
Summary: ***STRANGE MAGICS BOOK ONE- a Wild Magic/ Far From Home Crossover***"You and I, we were made to be the mates to a great leader, Sera," Galen whispered, barely holding himself back from plastering his body up against hers and just holding her still against him. "Fate has given us to her, and she to us. Everything else- every dark thought, every reason why not, every fear in your mind- they're all inconsequential. If we but fight for each other, the three of us are three parts of a whole.""Gods above," Sera whispered, her voice breathy and so husky Galen knew new tears were pouring down her cheeks. "To have that, that strength and conviction. I can almost see this future you're painting.""My strength is yours, dearest Sera. Anytime yours falters, mine is more than sufficient to hold us both for a time. And together, our strength is enough to help Lacy be the greatest leader Nefiir has ever known."
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Series: Far From Home [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1242377
Comments: 56
Kudos: 53





	1. THE ORIGIN OF HEDGE WITCHES

Quiet and humble, gentle and pure, Aura was said to be the most beautiful woman in her village. Though poor as the dirt she loved to tend, the woman grew to be healthy and strong, something like magic in the palms of her hands. It was no wonder to any around her when Aura drew the attention of the gods. 

Eses, goddess of the earth and all things that grow, caught sight of Aura while she was tending the garden outside of her family's dilapidated hut and immediately fell in love with her. Aura was everything Eses loved about the humans. She was full of life, was capable of great love, and fought every day against the potential for evil humans so easily fell prey to. 

That very same day, Ulniirn, god of chaos and destruction, saw Aura for the first time as well. Though wholly incapable of love, Ulniirn immediately desired to possess Aura. He saw her potential for kindness and love, but he also could sense what lurked beneath her skin: the darkness and chaos he fostered in any human he could manage to corrupt. The deep malice and petty jealousies that kept him strong and that he loved to taste on their skin.

Eses appeared to Aura as a travelling dancer, beautiful and graceful, and Aura was immediately smitten with the other woman. 

"My family will not be happy with the way I love," she mourned to Eses that night, as they lay beneath the stars and made love with bodies and hearts and souls. "They will want me to choose a man, to give birth to children, to build a family and tend to my husband's home. But I can't. I can't, my dear, sweet dancer. For you are everything I never knew my heart yearned for."

"You are everything my mother promised me humans could be," Eses replied, stroking her lover's face with shaking, tentative fingers. "I never knew that emotion like this was possible."

Though her words were a little strange, Aura pretended not to notice, and kissed her new lover with a passion she'd kept hidden her entire life and now allowed to bloom.

"Come away with me," Eses begged abruptly, pushing Aura onto her back and looking down at the stunning woman below her. The woman who, not ten minutes before, had been writhing beneath Eses' body as her fingers and tongue played with her most sensitive places. "You'll be safe and protected in my home. You'll be welcomed by my family, and we'll live the rest of our lives, unto eternity, in each other's arms."

Though reluctant to leave her family behind, Aura could no sooner let Eses walk out of her life and bring the greatest love she'd ever know with her than she could cut off her own hand. So Aura and Eses promised to meet the next day, after Aura had a chance to say goodbye to her former life.

"My little sister Niamh is going to be so upset," Aura mourned to her lover as they made their way back to the village in the dead of the night. Aura prayed silently that no one would see them, and Eses heard the prayer and smiled as she ensured her young human lover wasn't spotted by any of the villagers still awake. "I haven't finished teaching her the best times to plant sunflowers, and when to unearth the yams. I haven't even yet begun to teach her how to watch the skies and the clouds for storms that will harm the herbs, or where to find the largest braki mushrooms."

"You can come visit, my love," Eses replied, shaking her head at her human's small fears. "You can teach her everything you need to, over time."

"Can I? I can return?"

Eses agreed, and Aura sighed with happiness and set her head on Eses' shoulder. "That's good," she said with a smile. "Niamh is so very smart, and she loves the earth as I do. She would be so upset if I was unable to finish teaching her all I know."

And so Eses left Aura in her home with a gentle kiss, and swore to return the next day to take her away into their future. The next day, when Eses returned, she came in a flurry of god-power and light, revealing herself as she was truly to the human woman who had stolen her heart and to the rest of her family. Aura, scared not in the least, took the goddess' hand without hesitation and let herself be pulled up into her arms.

"Are you ready to go home, my love?" 

"Yes, my goddess, I'm ready," Aura replied, only to be cut off by a great cry of mourning. The two women turned to see a small, tearful child run up and launch herself against Aura's skirts. She clung to her, shaking, as if terrified of punishment, but courageous enough to hold true to her love for her sister.

"You, blessed sister of my dearest love, you are special," Eses said with a smile as she bent and pulled Niamh from Aura's skirts and took her petite fingers into her powerful hands. The goddess' glow burned ever brighter, and the little girl was encased in her green god-light. "You are the first of many to come. Those Chosen of me; those I give a link to my power, to heal, to grow, to renew. Do not mourn your sister, for she will return and bring with her the knowledge of the gods. She will teach you, and so you must teach the next, and they will teach the next, and a great legacy shall be built of the blood of your line. This is a great burden and a great blessing I bestow on you. Will you accept it, sweet Niamh?" 

The little girl nodded and pushed away her tears, watching as her sister and the great goddess of the earth and things that grow disappeared in a flurry of green and brown, of sweet smelling flowers and rustic dirt, and left her behind. But only for a little while. Only until it was time for Aura, newly immortal and flush with happiness, to return to teach her all she had learned while in the presence of the gods. 

Only one was left unsatisfied in the rebirth of Niamh, the first hedge witch in a long line of healing and tender care. Ulniirn, filled with rage at his sister taking from him the mortal he'd had his sights set on, found another who was sweet and kind and pure-hearted. One he was able to twist and torture and taint until the man was a shell of his former self. Until he was empty of all but the deepest, darkest magic, and an apathy that very easily consumed him. 

But that— that is another story.


	2. PROLOGUE: Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***** Hi and welcome (back)! If you're new, just an FYI— the Strange Magics series is a crossover of my Wild Magic and Far From Home Series. While you'll be able to follow the story just fine, the characters may be a little difficult (I try to explain them, but there's just oh, so many). If you have issues, I have a character list on my blog ☺️☺️
> 
> Welcome back if you're not new!! I'm so excited to share this one! This one was really a labor of love for me. Initially, Sera started as a crush for Lacy— just a little tidbit I added into the end of By the Light of the Moon to kind of show Lacy wasn't exactly straight, but very quickly I fell a little in love with Sera. Her sweet heart, her powerful mind, and her indomitable spirit came so easily to me it was almost strange. I very quickly realized she deserved her own story, her own love, and she needed to have her voice heard. 
> 
> If you've read my stories, you know one of my prevalent themes, along with issues with self-worth, kinky sex, and not giving a crap what's in someone's pants, is suicide. I think I write about it so much because it's something I know— I have suffered from severe chronic depression since I was very young, along with a sort of laundry list (what writer isn't a little messed up in the head?) of mental crap I struggle with daily.
> 
> My stories are fantasy, because it's what I love and it's what's in my head. It's what I like reading, so it tends to be what I write too. But I try to make my characters real people with flaws and loves, and that goes double for Sera. She's trans in a time and place that doesn't even fully accept same-sex couples. She's managed to find her place among Prince Lhiam's court, but that doesn't mean her story is finished. 
> 
> Both Lacy and Galen became the obvious partners for Sera early on in my writing out the ideas for my series. Galen because he was powerful enough to be protector and guardian to two women who were destined to change the world and would need his power at their back as they paved the way in their world for the future. And Lacy because she would bring Sera out into the open in a way only Lacy could. Only Lacy could break through Sera's walls, shove a mirror in front of her face, and demand she see herself as worth the love Lacy was dying to give to her. 
> 
> Lacy and Galen bonding over their mutual love of Sera is just the icing on the cake. 
> 
> So, so many people suffer from depression, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, dude, just so much crap. If you ever need to talk, know that you're not. fucking. alone. Trust me, I get it, and I'm not a great talker, but I'm the best kind of listener. 
> 
> Anyway, this long-ass beginning is just me saying please proceed with caution, be nice 'cause I'm fragile (lol), and enjoy!
> 
> TRIGGER WARNINGS (skip over if you don't want spoilers): self harm, depression, and body/gender dysphoria. If dysphoria is a trigger for you, please proceed with caution. If you have any questions about the details before you read so you can see if you may be able to handle it, please feel free to PM me. I'm happy to talk things through! I'll spoiler the crap out of it so you feel comfortable if that's what's needed :) Also, there's mentions of sexual slavery.*****

TWENTY YEARS AGO—

"You will have two," the woman muttered, her eyes alight with some kind of power that set Galen's nerves on edge. Barely nine, with a mouth covered in sticky sugar, Galen stared at the woman— the fortune teller— with awe and just a tinge of fear. 

"What's this nonsense?" Geir, Galen's older cousin, grumbled, his big hands landing on Galen's chubby shoulders. Geir was a warrior— strong and brave and merciless— and Galen spent as much time as he could trailing after his cousin, begging for attention and training of his own. 

"I can only teach you so much, little cousin," Geir would say as he corrected Galen's posture, moving his little feet further apart so the boy was standing steadier while holding his wooden staff in a battle ready stance. "You can learn how to fight as a man, but you'll need to find a wild mage tutor— a _rendia_— or you'll only ever fight at half-strength. That bear in your soul— he needs more than I can give him."

"You wish to hear the fate of your son, good sir?" the fortune teller crooned, making Galen preen excitedly at being mistaken for Geir's son, and Geir scowl. 

"The spawn is my cousin, not my kid," he grumbled, rolling his eyes and shaking his head at Galen's excitement. The child hero worshipped him, which would be cute if he didn't know the boy would outweigh and overpower him in a matter of years. According to the midwife at Galen's birth, his bear was powerful— powerful enough that it worried the woman for his fate. 

"Only a man born for greatness— born to a destiny the gods themselves have their hands in— would be the master of a bear this awe-inspiring," the midwife had warned in a low voice. 

"We're not interested," Geir said to the fortune teller, then, low under his breath so only Galen could hear, "Can't even tell you're not my son. Some fortune teller she is."

"You will never beget young of your own, Geir of the Moonstone Tribe," the woman snapped, and Galen jerked upright, feeling the power of her magic waft over both him and his cousin, embracing them, surrounding them, making his body shake nearly violently. 

It was power unlike any he'd ever felt before. Power that felt familiar and yet...

And yet distant. Wholly out of reach. 

"Despite this," she continued when Geir froze, his eyes wide on the woman. Though Geir bore not a lick of magic— wild or otherwise— Galen was never surprised when the man was overly sensitive to the magics around him. After all, the magic of Akar ran deep in the veins of the Moonstone Tribe. "You will someday have quite a handful of children, enough to supply an heir for your tribe, and a few left over for other destinies. You, future Warlord of Akar, shall be a great beacon for peace and change for your people. But your little cousin, who is as much your spirit son as he is his father's blood son..." 

The woman's eyes met Galen's and his knees went weak. The woman was old— falling apart at the seams with hair that hung in braids and dreadlocks down her back. It was pure white and littered with feathers, beads and baubles. Her skin was wrinkled heavily, her back hunched over her little table, her face, possibly once beautiful, looked as if it was made of lines rather than skin. She was one of the few light-skinned people Galen had met in his short life— pale and almost sickly gray. 

But her eyes. _Goddess above_, Galen prayed to Ravin, the goddess of wild mages. The woman's eyes were an unearthly, glowing green. A green so deep and dark, he feared he would fall into their depths if he allowed himself to gaze upon her for even one more moment. 

"You belong to my sister," the woman whispered, and Galen was only then aware that everything around him had fallen silent. Geir was still behind him, his hands on his shoulders, holding him protectively. But he was frozen, his eyes half-lidded, his mouth open in a retort, but no sound or movement possible above the goddess' spell. 

Galen twitched and stared back at the woman, who now stood and moved towards him, her little bare feet moving across the distance between them in a steady, nearly dancing lope. 

The woman's features changed as she moved. Her white hair shifted to strips of green, of brown and golden yellow, each lock and braided strand sporting a different color in a crown around her head and down to her waist. Her skin smoothed until she looked to be a woman younger than Geir, her brow marked with a half moon and star pendant, her brows slashes of dark across an otherwise pale, perfect face. A sort of glow began to emulate from her body, as if the very veins beneath her skin ran with a deep green light. 

"Goddess," Galen whispered reverently, and the woman smiled kindly. "Forgive my cousin, great Eses. He didn't know—" 

"— Forgiven, sweet boy," the goddess answered with a wave of her hand. "Now listen, and listen well, for my words have meaning beyond what you will understand now. You belong to my sister Ravin— you are one of her mages. For your strength, I have given you one of mine— a mate who is your equal in every way. And the both of you will be called upon in the aid of your third— a woman with the destiny of leading a land in a time of great change. A time of great upheaval in both heaven and earth, and even the depths of hell. The three of you will be a powerful force for good and for change. You will need the strength of your bear to protect both of your mates, and you will need it often. Your protection will extend past them, and over many— over the peoples of your mates. So you have been chosen, little Galen, to support and bear up my servant in her duties, and in your shared mate's life-work."

"My lady," Galen whispered, his heart hammering as he tried to remember each word the goddess spoke. "Will I not be a great Akaran warrior and leader like my cousin?"

The goddess laughed, and the little beads in her hair tinkled together with the movement. 

"You and your cousin will not share the same destiny, little one. He is a great leader, and your fate is to defend, protect, and be the stability _behind_ a great leader. Your duty is to your mate, while she leads her people. It will take a different kind of strength than that your cousin possesses— though you will need physical and magical power to keep her safe as well. You will need a steady heart, an impartial mind, and a humble soul. Will you do this? Will you stand beside my chosen and by her side, be the pillars that hold up a leader?"

Galen nodded somberly, his little head bouncing, his mouth turned down into a frown of concentration and great duty. 

"I will, my lady. I will protect my mates, and stand beside and behind them. You can count on me."

The woman chuckled again, then bent to press a gentle, tingling kiss against his forehead, before pulling away and shaking her head with a kind of awed look in her eyes. 

"Your humility and gentle strength will be praised, little one, though you will have no war ballads sung in your name. Just remember: one of your mates is royalty, meaning she is not of Akar. So venture forth, brave bear, and find them both!"


	3. Stone Walls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *****ENJOY!!*****

SERA— 

The first time I saw Princess Lacy, she was a child on the cusp of womanhood. Barely eleven, she was walking through my father's castle ballroom, her eyes on the windows above the dais at the center of the room. They were stunning works of art, depicting the heroes of old, tales told around fires and late into the night. The stories of the gods and goddesses, of tragedies and great romances. 

My favorite was the smaller window just behind the dais. It was barely visible past the seat that usually sat atop the raised bit of ground, nearly hidden beneath the great tapestries of art around it, but I'd studied it much over the years. 

It depicted the romance of Eses and her wife Aura. It showed the great goddess, the green of her skin and eyes glowing no matter what time of day. The goddess stepped out of the woods and into the village, Aura waiting for her goddess with open arms and a wide, loving smile. 

My chosen goddess, Eses, goddess of the earth and all things that grow, had been a fascination to me since I was just a child. Unlike her many siblings, Eses stayed in the background and the shadows of most stories. She only grew her farms, tended her forests, and stayed out of the affairs of men. She lived with her beloved wife, given eternal life by the great god of creation, Leba, and quietly loved and shared her life with her chosen mate. 

The little girl who walked and studied each window, weaving in and around the crowds of the midsummer's celebration, was pretty and coming into her body much less awkwardly than I had. 

Than I still had been at the time. 

She had tightly curled hair so light it was nearly white that almost seemed to glow in the bright lights of the party. Her lips were permanently pursed in a full Cupid's bow, and her brows were dark and slashed in concentration at the study of the windows. Her skin was pale with tinges of pink, and I smiled when I saw the ink stains on her fingers. I'd seen that many times, in the scholars and librarians my father kept on staff. The girl was a scholar, even at her age. 

Suddenly, she froze, and then she was looking up at me and meeting my gaze from across the room. Her eyes widened, her nostrils flared, and her mouth opened in a sweet little "O." I returned her stare, wondering what had her so surprised— so... in awe?

She didn't stop walking, though her eyes refused to leave mine, and she slammed directly into a curve in the wall, splashing the tea she'd been carrying all over the front of her dress and shattering the cup. 

"Good gods." Silvia, my oldest and closest friend, chuckled from behind me, her mouth wide in an amused laugh. "That was the funniest thing I've ever seen."

That was nearly nine years ago now, but the first time I saw Galen was eerily similar. I wasn't sure whether to be offended or flattered that I'd made two perfectly healthy people run directly into stone walls. But that was exactly what happened. 

I'd heard of the new ambassador from Akar staying in Teren for a few days before he went on to Swyer, the Empire's Capital, but I hadn't yet met him. I was told only that he was bigger than any of our men, dark skinned like Cain, the Emperor Consort, and quiet. 

Cain had been my friend since he came to work for Prince Lhiam here in Teren nearly seven years ago now. The man had possibly more walls up than I did, and yet only a handful of years ago, his had been all but ripped down by the demanding, persistent Emperor Riece. I'd still lived with my papa, but I'd visited Teren Keep as often as I was able. Now that I lived in the keep, I woke up each morning to the acceptance and peace I'd run towards each time I used to visit. 

Silvia, a wild hedge witch, and her wife Emma, a nearly magically gifted seamstress, had followed quickly after me and now worked in Teren Keep as well. Their marriage hadn't been fully accepted in Ruleden, the home of my papa, and he'd held a grudge against Silvia ever since he caught her teaching me how to put women's face makeup on when I was fourteen. 

"Despite his size, he's... gentle," Emma told me the day the ambassador came. I spent many nights with Silvia and Emma— I'd been practically raised alongside them both, and they were my best friends, besides Cain. But Cain had moved away to Swyer six years before when the Emperor finally took Cain's heart and left with it, and I only saw him a few times a year when he and the Emperor came to visit or when I was able to, for various reasons, visit Swyer. 

"I wonder if he's big all over," Emma tittered, making her wife glare her down. 

"Uh-uh," she tutted, leaning down to grip Emma at the back of her neck and tilt her head up in a possessive kiss. "You're mine. No looking at the giant bear's junk."

"Wait," I called, rolling my eyes when I saw a flash of tongue in their kiss. Goddess, I hated when they did all that in front of me. As if I wasn't lonely enough as it was. "Bear?"

Silvia pulled away, satisfaction crossing her face when Emma panted stupidly, her eyes heavy and dull with passion. 

"He's a bear shifter," Silvia said simply. 

"Oh!" Emma cried, as if she had just discovered the secret to something. "No wonder he had Sami in a tizzie! Gods, Sera, Sami was even more growly and possessive than normal. I thought Robert was going to have to lock him up somewhere. Prince Consort Edon kept acting weird as well. He kept shoving Prince Lhiam behind him, then sort of shaking his head, as if not understanding why he'd done it. It was very amusing."

"They both smelled the bear in him," Silvia explained, nodding. "Bears are powerful, stronger than most other shifters, so our boys have good reason to be nervous."

Sami was a bobcat shifter, and mated to the keep guard Robert, a big, burly man more prone to teasing than anyone his age should be. They lived together just outside Teren Keep in one of the guard's cottages on the banks of Ziztka Lake. Sami was one of my dearest friends, and I spent many days with his small cat form trailing behind me as I ventured outside the keep walls for herbs. He worked as my and Silvia's unofficial guard and Silvia's official apprentice. He followed the two of us anytime we left the keep to scout out herbs in the nearby forests, and was by Silvia's side the rest of the time. He preferred his cat form, having spent the majority of his life in the wilds solely as his cat, but more and more over the years, especially when training with Silvia, he graced us with his huge eyes and shaggy human hair. 

Years before, upset by a visit from my papa, I'd admitted to Sami of my weakness in the past. Of hurting myself, and of the time I was a teenager and nearly... Well, nearly did something very stupid. Sami, in one of his unusual bouts of pure empathy and understanding, had demanded I use him as something of a comfort blanket. Since then, anytime he even saw me frown, he was by my side, his purrs loud enough to draw me to him, his fur surprisingly soft beneath my fingers. The first few times, I'd been embarrassed and reluctant, even a little unsure Robert wouldn't get upset and jealous. But after Sami had done it in the middle of the guard's common room, with Dasan, Nibley, Edon, and Robert gathered around, and Robert had only smiled in that sweet way he only directed at Sami, I allowed myself to relax and let Sami comfort me in the only way he knew how. In a way that I was surprised to learn worked impossibly well. 

Most of the time, I was fine. Most of the time, I could work through my loneliness and the darkness that was always at the periphery of my mind, almost like a shadow in the edge of my vision. I kept myself busy. I read healing scrolls gathered by Silvia, and tomes of science left behind by the doctor before me. I even allowed myself the luxury of a few novels, usually romance, borrowed from a blushing, shy Edon, and devoured those during the nights of restless sleep. I worked myself to exhaustion each day, praying to any gods listening that I'd be able to sleep that night, but sleep was hard to come by, and I spent the majority of my nights either staring up at the ceiling, crushing herbs in my workroom, or reading by candlelight.

Then there were the times that all my coping tricks did me no good. The times when the darkness took over, my chest tightened, my body felt numb and airy and yet heavy and tight at the same time. Times where my muscles coiled and my skin felt as if it was too thick and too tight and too heavy for my bones and they ached. Gods, did they ache. Days when my mind raced with thoughts that scared me, dark thoughts that I wanted to push away but couldn't. My mind overwhelmed me, making it impossible to even function, let alone fake a smile or act as if I wasn't suffocating where I stood. 

Those were the days I found Sami to be the greatest kind of godssend. He found me unerringly, his big, bright eyes fixed on mine as he approached me slowly. He would lie down, his belly against the ground, then inch towards me. It depended on how far gone I was, but sometimes I was able to reach out and motion him forward. Others, he simply inched towards me until his warm fur tickled my nose as he pressed his body up against mine. 

We'd spend hours with his hot, comforting weight in my lap as I stared into nothing, or, depending on deep the darkness was, on my bed with blankets and pillows piled around us, his nose pressed against mine, my fingers in his fur, clutching him like the lifeline he'd proven to be. He barely moved, never made a sound, just let me hold him, stroke his fur, using his body as a living comfort doll. 

On days that my mind darkened but it didn't overwhelm me, Sami still managed to find me. I didn't know how he always knew— if it was some mage sense, or if the castle's occupants just sought him out when they saw my dead eyes— but he never failed to know where I was and that I needed him. On those days, he'd stay by my side, his body brushing up against my legs as I worked, or just napping in the sun that shone through the windows of my workroom. His presence alone was enough to even my breathing and calm my mind, just a little bit. 

Sami had been one of the most accepting people I could name when we'd first met. He'd been fascinated by my unique scent— something I'd been told by each wild mage I'd met was nearly hypnotizing in its dichotomy— but he'd never been anything more than confused if he heard anything against me for who I was. 

"You're a woman," he'd say simply. "Humans just make things complicated." 

Cain was the first wild mage, but surely not the last, to tell me that while my body smelled male, because that was the sex I'd been born, every other bit of me smelled and felt like a woman to him. My soul, my heart, and my mind, he told me, contrasted sharply with my body. 

I kept back my sarcastic thoughts when he told me that, nearly bitter that he could see the battle every bit of me waged with my body every day. But there had also been something lighter, something that rejoiced, almost vindicated that I was what I said I was. I wasn't crazy, a man trying to be something they weren't, just different. I was a woman born to forever be unique. And that was okay. Different wasn't always bad. Sami was proof of that— the man had lived in the Keep for over six years and had never conformed to human standards of etiquette or even basic human interactions. He was still abrasive, without a sense of personal boundaries or the lines of polite society. He stomped over all of it, ignored the rest, and was spiteful towards what he could do neither to. 

Things had gotten better since I'd moved to Teren Keep, away from Papa's displeasure and censure, his spiteful pride and his embarrassment. I'd been taking the herbs Silica, my hedge witch mentor, had first shown me how to make when I was sixteen— the medicines that helped my body to match my mind just a little bit more— for more than ten years, and each year I was just that little bit more comfortable in my own skin. A far cry from the child I'd been, who couldn't see an end to the pain and just wanted to sleep and never wake. 

Silica had passed away just before I'd moved to Teren from Ruleden, and I left her workroom behind with a heavy heart. I'd hoped to inherit it, but my papa never would have left me there in peace. Always he would have demanded I face my duties as his heir, though I'd told him even before I'd begun taking the hormone herbs that I'd never take his place, and he had to find another. He'd never been able to accept it, and his stubborn refusal of everything I was made me miserable.

Lhiam was Prince of Teren, one of the seven kingdoms of the We'ren Empire, of which Cain's husband Riece was Emperor. Lhiam's husband Edon was a wolf shifter with a soft, gentle voice, eyes that spoke where his words failed him, and a past that made my own look as if I was just a whiny, spoiled child. 

A slave for most of his life, Edon had been rescued from a freak show act by Prince Lhiam and all but adopted by his cousin Princess Lacy. The precocious princess has since been studying in Swyer, the Empire's capital, for six years to take over her cousin's throne, and she was greatly missed by all, but mostly by the quiet, shy wolf shifter. 

Two days after the ambassador's arrival, I was picking herbs from the little garden Silvia and I tended together in the courtyard outside my workroom. The sounds of voices had me glancing up just in time to see a man who was at least seven feet tall, three times my size, and built like a mountain. His skin was a few shades lighter than Cain's, but darker than any other in Teren, his lips full and plump, and his eyes a shade of green that hinted at gray. He was staring me down, his eyes and nostrils wide, his hands clenched. Followed by a confused, concerned Lhiam, the man didn't seem to hear when Lhiam cried out in warning as he slammed directly into the side of the keep. 

I jumped up, ignoring the dirt on my skirts, and trotted over to the men. Lhiam was tall and broad, but this man dwarfed even him. I felt small and vulnerable beside the man, coming up to his neck, and I had a quick, amused flash of seeing the tiny Lacy by his side. Goddess, she'd barely come up to his chest. 

Years before, when Sami had first scented me, he'd nearly buried himself into my skin trying to get closer to my smell. This man before me wanted to do the same; I could tell by the way his nostrils flared as he stared me down, blood dripping from his nose, though I wasn't sure if it was for the same reasons. Sami was curious about the smell of something he'd never scented before. This man looked on the verge of losing control of his shift. As if any moment, fur would sprout from his arms and legs and he would begin to growl in deep, heavy bursts of sound. 

And yet, despite the look in his eyes, as if any moment he would tackle me to the stones of the courtyard and bury his teeth in my neck...

I felt not an ounce of fear. 

GALEN—

Gods above, she was the most beautiful creature I'd ever set my eyes on. 

I'd known since I was a child that I would be gifted not one but two mates, both women. But this woman was my every dream personified. She was tall and slender with hair too dark to be blonde, but too light to be brown. She had brown eyes that lit with just a hint of green, dark brows hanging severely over them, with a sharp jaw and full, pink lips I could hardly look away from. 

I'd been traveling as ambassador for Akar for over half a decade. I'd learned to speak half a dozen languages, met kings and queens, sultans and emperors. I had travelled at Akar's behest, but I'd been selfish in my desires. 

"_One of your mates is royalty_," Eses had told me, all those years ago. "_Meaning she is not of Akar_.”

So I'd travelled, searching out the women Eses had told me to find, to support, to love. 

And now, _yes_, I'd finally found her. 

Not the royal, of that I could tell by her clothes alone. They weren't shabby or dirty— though, I supposed, on closer inspection there was actually dirt on the hems of her sleeves and beneath her fingernails— they just weren't the dress of a princess or queen. No, this was the other mate Eses had spoken of. The one Chosen of Eses herself. 

And yes, there was the scent of earth magic in her blood, her hands glowing with it, her body...

I froze as she ran towards me, blood pouring down my face from slamming my nose and half my face right into the stone of the keep as I caught scent and sight of my mate. 

Her body...

Was male?

I sniffed the air again, wondering if my nose was too clogged with blood to get a decent smell. But no, there it was, as she stopped right before me, those eyes staring up at me with concern. 

Earth magic. Mate. Herbs and potions and dirt. 

And male. 

And yet... 

Her soul was woman. Her heart beat in a woman's song, her breaths were the tempo of a woman's, her mind and the aura around her... She was a woman. In everything but body. 

"Gods, you're beautiful," I whispered breathily, realizing too late the words had slipped past my lips. The woman's eyes widened slightly but otherwise she kept her face placid and calm. 

"Lean down a little so I can make sure your nose isn't broken," she said, her slender, calloused fingers sending sparks dancing across my skin as she tugged at my arm. "You're far too high up for me to reach."

I chuckled a little and easily lowered myself to my knees. The woman looked surprised for a split second before she schooled her features and tilted my head up to examine my nose with a gentle grip on my chin. 

"Not broken," she said huskily, those fingers gently smoothing against the stubble on my chin. Her eyes met mine and held, and her breath caught as she searched my gaze for something. 

I wasn't sure what, I didn't even know if she found it or not, because before I could ask, Prince Lhiam was clearing his throat and my mate was jerking away from me, making a cute little embarrassed noise as she smoothed her skirts anxiously. 

"Lady Sera, this is Ambassador Galen of Akar. Ambassador Galen, meet Lady Sera of Ruleden. She's Teren Keep's hedge witch."

Prince Lhiam seemed amused, his eyes sparkling a little as he looked at me, down on my knees. 

I coughed and stood, blushing more than a little, and wiped the drying blood from my lips with the back of my hand. 

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Sera," I said, bowing to the woman and smiling in what I hoped was a calming way. 

"And you, Ambassador Galen," she replied with a returning smile.


	4. Crush

LACY—

It had been over six years since I stepped foot in Teren Keep, the place I'd called home until I was nearly fourteen. I'd promised my cousin Lhiam I'd visit often— for holidays— midwinter festival, solstices— but I never had. Even as I'd made him and his husband Edon the promise, I'd known it was a lie. Because since Sera moved into the keep, invited by Lhiam when Doctor Gerard retired, it became her home, and seeing her everyday, when she couldn't be mine? That was something I wasn't strong enough for. 

I'd been in love with Sera since the moment I saw her, beautiful and shy in a flowing dress of silk, her hair only just beginning to grow past her ears. She'd been barely seventeen, and had only just begun to take the potions Mistress Silica helped her brew— the ones that allowed her body to match her soul. The ones that calmed her mind and gave her peace about her identity. 

She'd been standing on the other side of her father's ballroom, Mistress Silvia at her side, a man I'd never met before beside them, but the moment my eyes lit on her, I hadn't been able to look away. 

Every time I saw her after that, I was awkward, stilted, and my youthful confusion about my strong attraction to her manifested in a spoiled outpouring of stubborn flirting. But my Sera was kind and she was gentle. Even as she turned down my advances at every turn, she was never impatient, never annoyed. She only smiled and sweetly told me that someday I'd understand. 

I understood now. I did. 

It didn't make it any easier that she didn't love me the way I loved her. 

I'd hoped my love for her was a crush— youthful and sweet and fleeting. For years in the finishing school my cousin sent me to in the capital, I spent nary a single night alone. Riece was very proud of my exploits, though I could only hope they never made it to Lhiam's ear. Woman after woman I seduced, bedded, and I even managed to grow to deeply like a few of them, but they were never her. They were never my Sera. 

I tried to get her out of my mind with each woman I fucked, each girl in my school I flirted with, and for a while, for years, I'd thought it had worked. 

Then I rode back into the keep, saw her tending her little garden in the back courtyard, and I knew I'd been lying to myself for years. 

She'd grown even more stunning as her body matured from teenager to young woman, if that was at all possible. Her hair was longer, braided in a thick ribbon down her back, hovering over her plump ass I— gods I wanted to bite it. I wanted to know what her skin and her sweat and her deepest places tasted like. I dreamt about it, about her, almost nightly, and now here she was, right in front of me, and I couldn't... Gods, would she even remember me? 

I shook my head and jumped from my horse, hurrying inside as quickly as I could so she wouldn't see me. 

I shouldn't have been worried. She didn't even glance up. 

"Where's the bloody fire?" Cain grumbled from behind me, Riece chuckling from beside him. 

"I'm excited to be home," I lied.

"You are not. You're wanting to see your dear Lady—" 

"— Riece, you may be Emperor," I cut in with a glare. _Besides, it's the opposite— I don't want her to see me, _I wanted to say. "But don't think that means I won't gut you if you don't keep your mouth shut."

"Why, I—" Riece began, teasing in his tone, but he was cut off when I heard Edon's sweet, lightly husky voice call out my name. 

"Lacy! Oh gods, did we know you were coming home?"

Edon came out from around the corner, followed closely by his son Tay. Nearly ten, the boy was gangly and skinny with buck teeth and a smattering of freckles across his nose. The last time I'd seen him was nearly six months before, at the midwinter festival in Swyer, and he'd grown at least a few inches since then. 

It was times like these I felt my height. Because at ten, Tay now stood only a couple of inches shorter than me. 

"Lacy!" Tay called, all smiles with big teeth. He ran at me and leapt up against me, his skinny arms wrapping around my neck. "You're home!"

"For a little while, I think," I said against his mess of hair, smiling over at Edon. "Where's Lhiam?" I asked Edon once Tay had released me and I was enveloped in Edon's gentle arms. He was always so quiet and soft, no matter if it was hugs or a game or a simple touch. Edon's fingers or skin against mine never felt anything less than whisper soft. 

"We've got an ambassador from Akar visiting, so he's giving him a tour of the keep. He's here for a few weeks, I think, before he continues on to Swyer. He's..."

Edon trailed off, shaking his head, before turning back to greet Riece and Cain. 

"I'm sorry, I'm being so rude. Welcome to Teren, your majesties."

Cain snorted at the titles of respect and Riece winked at Edon. 

"If I didn't know any better," Riece teased, "I'd swear you do that to annoy Cain."

"But you do know better," Edon replied with a faux-innocent smile before exchanging cheek busses with both Cain and Riece. "You both staying a while, or you just dropping off a princess?"

"We'll stay a few days, if that's alright," Riece answered. "We could do with a break from court."

"Of course. You're welcome anytime."

I smiled as I looked up at Edon, so glad at how he'd grown over the years. I could still remember the terrified boy he'd been when I'd first met him, eyes huge in a gaunt face, trying to defend me against what he perceived as a threat, though he knew he stood little chance in the state he'd been in. He'd been my closest friend until I moved away, and I hoped I could get a little of that back over the next few weeks, before I had to return to Swyer. 

Probably for good this time, if Riece convinced Lhiam that his plan was a good one. At least I wouldn't have to live my life with Sera just within reach and unable to touch her, though. That was one of the upsides of Riece's insane idea. 

_Gods give me strength._

SERA—

Galen continued to stare at me as Lhiam and I exchanged pleasantries, and when we were done, I glanced back at him almost warily. 

Was he as intrigued by my smell as Sami, or was there something else? Another reason he was staring me down so intently? I'd only ever heard good things about Akar in regards to sexuality and even gender— their women fighting side-by-side with their men, and women being chosen as tribal leaders as equally as the men— but maybe he could smell my born sex and was upset by it? Sami had accepted me without hesitation, never even asking me questions about my body or the way I chose to present myself to the world. But maybe that was unique to him— because he didn't know any better. Cain had been the same way, though I knew that was just... well, that was just Cain. As long as it didn't hurt him or those he loved, he didn't care what anyone did. However, maybe it wasn't something this man would be alright with. 

Many people, especially men, seemed to find my body and the way I needed to live my life as something of a personal affront to them. As if my being a woman born in a male body made them less of a man. Women were generally more comfortable with me, accepting me as one of their own, with a few exceptions. I never begrudged either one. I was unique, and I couldn't blame someone for not understanding something that sometimes baffled even me. But my understanding their confusion and accepting their abuse were two very different things. I'd do the former until my last breath, the latter never. 

Yet this man's stare didn't seem hostile. It didn't seem angry or disgusted or any of the dark emotions I'd learned to look for in men upset at me for the way I was born. No, he was... maybe intrigued, yes, but happy too. Happy to just study me, his eyes roving across my face, down my skirts, then back up with a little blush that made me want to return his smile. 

"We should get inside. I know Edon has lunch prepared for us," Lhiam said, his voice a little louder than normal, as if to grab the man's attention. Finally, Galen looked away, to Lhiam, only to glance back at me with a smile. 

"Lady Sera, can you join us for lunch?" he asked excitedly. I looked over at Lhiam for a moment, to see him shrug with a smirk, and then I turned back to Galen. 

"I'd love to, Ambassador."

"Galen, please, my lady," he said quickly, his hands clenching and unclenching as he licked his lips. He frowned a little as his tongue touched a drop of blood that had trickled down from his nose, and I held back a laugh as he silently blanched and rubbed at his upper lip and nose. Even with his efforts, he left behind a smudge up on his cheek and another on his lower lip. 

"Galen, then. But maybe I should get you something to wipe the blood off first, yes?"

"Ah, maybe Mistress Silvia should take a look at him instead?" Lhiam asked, but then he froze and snapped his mouth closed with an audible sound. Galen frowned, finally turning fully to Lhiam.

"I assure you," Galen began, as close to anger as I believed he'd let himself get. "Lady Sera is perfectly safe in my—"

"—That isn't what he meant, Galen," I cut in. I reached out and held onto his forearm, feeling the tension in his body release instantly at my touch. "I'm a hedge witch, but Mistress Silvia is a wild hedge witch. She may have better potions for your nose than I."

"Ah," Galen said, his eyes flicking from me to Lhiam and back again. "I guess I should have guessed you'd know, with the two mages in your court, but somehow I'd thought they kept their beasts a secret."

"Sami is incapable of secrecy," Lhiam said on a chuckle. "The entire keep knew about you within a day. He refers to you as 'the bear.'"

Galen laughed out loud and shook his head. "He's an... interesting one, isn't he?"

"He keeps Robert on his toes, that's for sure."

"And your mate?"

Lhiam smiled gently, the way he only did when Edon was mentioned. "Edon's the light of my life. I thank the gods every day for him." 

"You're lucky," Galen said with a blush and a flick of his eyes to me. "Wolves are loyal and selfless to a fault."

"He is," Lhiam agreed, and then he frowned, his attention dragged towards the keep. Three horses, newly arrived, were being led to the stables by a stableboy. "Lady Sera, were we expecting visitors? That looks like—"

"Lhiam!" Robert called from the south entrance to the keep, just off the main doors. "Princess Lacy, Riece, and Cain're here! Edon wants you inside for lunch."


	5. Mates

LACY—

The man was huge— at least seven feet tall, with a slow sort of cautious lope that told the story of a man who knew his strength and size and was careful he didn't hurt others with it. He had a sweet face, almost childish though he was at least seven years older than me, and his eyes were a pretty, light color that stood out next to his dark-toned skin. 

He was standing _far_ too close to Sera. 

_Oh gods_, Sera. 

She smiled politely when our eyes met, but it dropped when the man at her side began to growl. And it was most definitely not the growl of a man. Oh no, this was the deep, rumbling, rocks sliding against rocks, terrifying growl of a beast. 

And his eyes were right on me. 

_"Mast'rin,_" he whispered, the sound coming from low in his gut as his eyes flashed to a dark, terrible black. The word was foreign, deep-cut, and pulled from his soul. _"Mast'rin mopki."_

I was shoved back by Cain, stumbling directly into Riece as both Cain and Edon blocked my view of the Akaran, moving as one to stand in front of me. 

"Step back, bear," Cain hissed, his eyes flashing gold, his hands shifting to claws and held up to his sides. "Calm yourself. This is not Akar, and the princess won't understand."

I frowned and rolled my eyes before leaning around Cain to glare the stranger down. 

"The _princess_ understands just fine because she was blessed with a brain _and_ great tits. But the _princess_ isn't interested. Find another mate, mage."

Sera's eyes were wide, flicking from the man at her side, who stood stoically in the standoff against both Edon and Cain, his own hands shifted into the biggest claws I'd ever seen, black as midnight, back to me. 

"But you hurt Sera," I finished, "and I'll throw you into a hole so deep and dark you won't even remember what light looks like."

The man seemed taken aback by my words, his brow furrowing, his hands clenching before shifting back to human, his eyes melting back to that gray that shone just a little green. 

"My apologies," he whispered, his voice as deep and heavy as his growl. "I'm... If you'll excuse me." And then he was gone, leaving me to shove the overprotective men out of my way to move to Sera. 

"Lady Sera," I said, stopping far enough away from her that I wouldn't have to smell her natural musk or the herbs and earth that always made me feel like I wanted to press my nose up against her skin and never pull away. "Are you alright?"

"He didn't hurt me, Lacy," she said with a quiet smile, her eyes flicking to the door the shifter had stomped out of. "I don't understand what just happened, though."

Lhiam pulled his way out from behind the wild mage wall Edon and Cain had made with a confused look on his face. 

"It's strange, I could've sworn..." he began, his eyes flicking from me to Sera and back again, and then he shrugged. "We should get to lunch," he finished. 

Cain and Edon exchanged a glance. "We'll be right there. He's..." Edon shook his head sadly, refusing to look at me. "He's likely upset right now, and I don't want to leave him alone."

Lhiam nodded and made a shooing motion with his hand, then turned back to me and Sera. "Shall we?"

I glanced over at Riece, whose face was, of course, inscrutable, and then over at Sera. 

"I hope you don't mind, my lady, but I'd like to have lunch with just my family today. It's my first day back, and I'd rather not have any outsiders present."

Sera's open face seemed to snap closed at my words, her eyes growing dim as she took a step back and smiled tightly, bowing a little to me. 

"Of course, your highness," she replied, her fingers gripping her skirts. 

"You understand, I haven't been home in so long, I'd like to catch up with my loved ones," I said, as gently as I could, and she nodded and her fake smile widened almost imperceptibly. 

_I can't be near you_, I should have told her, if I wasn't such a coward. _And I don't want you to know how much I still lo—_

"I understand completely. Enjoy your meal."

Then she was gone in a quiet swish of skirts, and I led Riece and Lhiam back through the halls to Lhiam's personal suite of rooms. We'd need privacy for what Riece was about to ask of Lhiam. And what I was about to take onto my shoulders for my future. I forced thoughts of Sera out of my mind, knowing if I didn't, I'd be far too distracted to comfort Lhiam for what was to come. 

EDON—

We found the bear shifter beneath an apple tree in the courtyard, sitting with his back against the trunk, his legs crossed and his hands set limply against his knees. His eyes were closed, his breaths deep inhales and pushing, forced exhales. 

"I've known I'd been gifted two mates for a long time. I never expected I'd meet them both on the same day. I apologize for my actions; I was severely overwhelmed by my bear."

"He always hard to control?" Cain asked seriously, assessing the danger of having a bear shifter with little control over his beast in the castle— in We'ren even. The bear shook his head, still not opening his eyes. 

"Not usually, no. But he's strong, and meeting both of them, within minutes, I..."

"We understand," I whispered, trying to keep him calm. "I understand Lacy is your mate— and gods, we're going to have to discuss that one, because Lhiam's not going to be happy, and Lacy even less so— but who was the other?"

"Lady Sera," the man said reverently, the name coming out on a breath. 

I flinched when Cain laughed loudly, because I saw before it happened what the bear's reaction would be. 

His eyes snapped open and, between one breath and the next, he was standing, half shifted, his shirt tearing as he snarled down at us with teeth the size of daggers and eyes dark as pitch. 

"_You think my mast'rin something to laugh at, cat_?" he snarled, his voice coming out half-growl, sounding like a monster in the dark. 

Cain shook his head, his amusement dying only a little. I took a few steps back and held my hands up, though Cain barely reacted. Cain may be well-versed in battle and able to stare into the eyes of a monster, but I wasn't and couldn't. I knew what pain was, and I had no desire to tempt a creature that could surely show me a new meaning to the word. 

"Cain and Lady Sera are great friends, Galen," I explained pleadingly. His eyes never even moved to me. "I'm sure he wasn't laughing at her."

"No, I was laughing at your shit luck, bear," Cain muttered, making the same soothing motions with his hands, though his had a mocking edge. The bear paused and cocked his head, slowly shrinking and coming out of his shift as Cain finished. "The gods gave you two mates— likely _both_ completely unattainable to you."

"Explain," Galen bit out, still visibly irritated and seconds away from violence. 

"Sera sees herself as unlovable to a degree I'm not sure anything is getting through. The very idea anyone might be attracted to her shuts her down quicker than a slamming door. And Lacy is solely attracted to women. I've never even seen her _look_ at a man with appreciation before. You're in for a long ride, if you ever reach your destination. Good luck, bear."

I reached up and smacked Cain on the shoulder, since I couldn't reach the back of his head, and he snorted with laughter again. 

Riece was a bad influence on him. He'd never laughed or teased this much before they'd met, especially not in inappropriate moments like this. 

"Galen, Cain isn't wrong, I'm sorry to say. But he's also forgetting one thing that may tilt things in your favor: Lacy is in love with Lady Sera. She has been for a long time— since she was just a girl. Maybe... maybe she'll be more amenable to you, if she's able to get Sera in the bargain? Though this idea of multiple mates isn't something I fully understand."

Galen looked thoughtful, then, "You say Lacy loves Sera. And Sera?"

I met Cain's eyes, then shrugged and shook my head. "Sera is one of the kindest, most compassionate people I've ever known. But she's heavily guarded— she's been hurt— and like Cain said, I don't think she sees herself as someone capable of being loved."

"She's my _mast'rin_," Galen bit out. "I will teach her what that means, and I'll have Lacy's help to do it. I'm sure of it."

I frowned but said nothing, only shrugging slightly.

"You alright to go back for lunch?" Cain asked. "Edon shouldn't miss it. Riece and Lacy have an, ah, announcement."

The bear nodded and, worried now, I followed as Cain led us back to my and Lhiam's private rooms, where Lhiam, Lacy, and Riece sat waiting for us, their faces grim.


	6. The Emperor of We'ren

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! I'm sorry for the moratorium on updates. I'm a lot more active over on Wattpad, and I was only going to update over there because it's more user-friendly imo, but I'm like screw it, I can try to keep doing both. So here follows a shitload of updates haha. Enjoy!

GALEN—

If I’d thought Sera was grace and beauty and gentleness incarnate, my royal mate was the opposite of her in many ways, but in a way wholly unique to herself. 

Lacy was very small— worryingly so, if I was honest— petite and thin, and so pale I almost worried she was sick if I didn’t smell that she was plenty healthy. Plump pink lips hung over a soft chin, a pert nose, and brows that hovered dark black over gray eyes, at the moment the color of a deep thunderstorm. Nearly white blonde hair that curled prettily around her round face, she stood with a stiff back, head held high, hands folded docilely in front of her. 

Where Sera was beautiful— stunning even— Lacy was pretty in an eye catching, almost intriguing way. Where Sera was gentle, Lacy was all harsh edges, distrust, and bitter, distant regality. Where Sera was graceful, Lacy held herself stiff and tense, as if at any moment she may leap up and pull a blade out of her skirts. 

Which wouldn’t have been too surprising— she had six blades hidden on her person, and from the calluses on her fingers, and the scars on her hands and wrists, I knew she was trained how to use them. 

My mates would keep me on my toes, I was sure. And gods, was I looking forward to every moment. 

I could see the calm she tried to exude was as faked as the smile she sent towards Edon and Cain as they entered the room in front of me. She completely ignored me, her eyes never leaving Prince Lhiam’s but for the second it took to greet Edon and Cain. 

“There, they’re here. Talk now, one of you,” Lhiam growled at Lacy and the man I hadn’t been introduced to, but whom I was sure was the Emperor. He was tall, with bright, golden-red hair and a face guarded currently, but to which I could see from the lines around his mouth, laughed often and loudly. He was nearly androgynous— pretty in an almost feminine way. 

I could sense Lacy trying to ignore me, because I was wholly incapable of looking away from her. Gods, I’d truly been blessed in my mates— I could watch her, just like this, for the rest of my life and never tire of the way her cheeks rounded, or the dichotomy of her dark brows and light hair. Or the way her pert breasts were fuller than they should be on a body so small and slim. Her damn skirts hid her ass and hips from me, and I nearly growled at that. Would they be thin, or plush enough to grip while I held her body against mine? 

“I’ll keep this brief as possible,” the Emperor began, his back ramrod straight as he stared Lhiam down. Edon moved to his husband’s side, grabbing his hand with trembling fingers. “I wish to make Lacy my heir, with the intention of giving up the throne to her within the next five years.”

Edon gasped and Lhiam went pale all the way to his eyes, the whites showing as he took a step back. Cain moved to stand beside the Emperor, and they held hands fluidly, moving into each other with a practice that came with being beside your soul mate for years. 

“You have _three children_, Riece. Why would you…?”

Lhiam’s voice trailed off and the Emperor shrugged and shook his head. “Jon will be given the crown of Teren, if you’re amenable, and neither Gaily nor Dierdre have shown any kind of propensity towards leadership. Though, to be fair, Dierdre is barely seven, so she still has time to—”

“—This isn’t funny, Riece,” Lhiam hissed. 

“I know it’s not. I’m being serious, Lhiam. There are many reasons I want Lacy, but it comes down to three big ones— I was left the crown when I was still a boy, and I _will not_ let that happen to my own children. They are all too young still, and I have to prepare an heir I’ve trained, who would be able to take the throne from me tomorrow if need be. If I were to wait for Jon to be old enough, I’d be Emperor for another twenty years, maybe more, and I’m just not… Gods, Lhiam, I want to enjoy my life with my mate without the weight of the crown, for as long as I can. 

“Second, I have no desire to force my children into this life. It’s not one I’d wish on my worst enemy.”

“You won’t push it on your children, but you will on _mine_?”

Riece seemed a little taken aback, but something flashed in Lacy’s eyes. She stayed silent, watching the men argue, but I could sense that would only last so long. She was losing her patience. 

“Lacy has a _choice_. She’s _choosing_ to take on the burden of the crown, and Lhiam,” the Emperor paused, shaking his head, then, “The last and biggest reason— Lacy will be the greatest Emperor— Empress— the seven kingdoms have ever seen. She would be wasted in Teren, under an Emperor’s thumb, even a good, just Emperor. I’ve done much in my years on the throne to move this empire forward and away from the darknesses of the past. Away from slavery and hatred and bigotry. But Lhiam, Lacy was _born_ for this.”

_Yes_, I thought silently with a smile, fighting the urge to move to my distressed, frustrated mate. _Ordained by the gods_. 

“She will not only finish what I’ve started, she’ll take We’ren into an entirely new era. She has it in her to bring this empire into a future none other could even envision,” the Emperor finished with a hesitant smile. “And I want to stand back and let her do it.”

Lhiam turned from the Emperor to Lacy, then back and back again. 

“Lacy?” he whispered, his voice completely unsure. “You can’t… You want this?”

“I was born for this,” she replied simply, and I couldn’t hold back my proud smile. She noticed, frowned, but turned away from me again. “Cousin, I want this. I need to do this. It’s… I feel it in my blood. That crown is mine.”

Lhiam laughed almost bitterly and shook his head before turning back to the Emperor. 

“Your children may grow to resent you for this, and to fight Lacy’s right to the throne.”

The Emperor nodded easily. “I have law clerks writing up binding, airtight accession documents. None will be able to work around them. And if I find my children coming to resent things, we’ll go from there. Maybe they’ll be Lacy’s heir. 

“But honestly, Lhiam, I highly doubt that will happen. My Dierdre is barely seven and can’t be bothered to look up from her studies, and my Gaily is already flirting with anything that moves— she makes the palace guards highly uncomfortable— though it might also be Cain’s glaring them down as she drapes herself over them that does it— it’s hilarious. If she’s not pregnant and happily married off by sixteen, I’ll be proud of her restraint. She cares not a whit for the throne.”

“And Jon?”

The Emperor smiled a little. “My Jon gave me the idea. He practically begged me to give her the throne— I think the idea of being Emperor terrifies him.”

“As it rightly should,” Lhiam hissed, and then shook his head and turned back again to Lacy. “And you’re certain of this? You have no doubts?”

Lacy’s eyes flickered to me, something curious flashing through their depths, but then she was smiling at Lhiam with a regal kind of calm that had my chest rising with pride. 

“Lhiam, nothing has ever been as clear as this. I want this.”

Things became quiet after Lacy’s strong, sure words. Lhiam and Edon both looked as if they wanted to cry, or stomp their feet, or a little of both, but Lacy stood stoic under their stares, and before long, Lhiam was sighing, stepping into his mate’s arms. 

“Alright, Lace,” he all but whispered. “Alright. Not that I have any real say in this, but you have my blessing, as it counts.”

“It matters to me, cousin,” Lacy replied with a proud smile. “Your opinion and blessing are important to me.”

“Then you have them. My opinion is that you shouldn’t do it. The dangers of being Emperor alone are enough to make me want to force you to stay here, but I know you, and I know you won’t be happy until you have your way. Despite my opinion, if this is the path you’re choosing, my blessing is yours.”

“Thank you, Lhiam,” she said, her tone almost gentle. 

Sensing eyes on my skin, I glanced over at Edon, then Cain and Riece, all of whom looked at me with mixed emotions. Some understanding, some confusion, some fear, and some bemusement. Some of them guessed why I’d been chosen as Lacy’s mate. Of all Ravin’s creatures, I was second only to her Guardians in power. Bear shifters overpowered each and every other animal Ravin had created, and I knew I was strong even for a bear. My mate would be well protected with me at her side. 

“I guess this explains him, then,” Edon muttered, his hands rubbing up and down Lhiam’s arms comfortingly. 

“What?” Lhiam asked, turning away from Lacy. Realizing that nearly every other person in the room was staring me down, all but Lacy, Lhiam turned to me as well. “Ah,” he said with a dumbstruck look on his face. 

I turned and met my mate’s eyes, but her gaze was stoic and pitiless. 

“I don’t fuck men,” Lacy said sternly, her eyes flashing, before she turned from me and towards the large dining table set up near the balcony. “Now that the dramatics are out of the way, let’s eat. I’m starving.”

SERA—

Lacy was avoiding me; I wasn’t an idiot, I could see it from a league off. When she’d pushed me away, citing wanting a family lunch, I’d accepted it and left without question, hurt making my chest tight. And then I’d seen Galen being led into the suite for lunch and my heart had stuttered painfully. 

Of course she didn’t want me there. I’d been a childhood crush she’d grown out of, realizing how very insufficient I was as a possible suitor or future partner. Of course I was. Not only was she the future Princess of Teren and I was a disgraced noblewoman, but I was so wholly broken I was unsure if I was fit for anyone, much less someone of royal blood. 

And Galen was… They looked good together. I wasn’t stupid— I knew he’d seen his mate in Lacy. It took me a moment, but after I’d had time to think, the truth of the way he had reacted to her had hit me square on. They fit each other, in an awkward, opposites kind of way. Galen was huge, tall, dark, with a gentle, childish face, and Lacy was tiny, pale and blonde, with a stern kind of stoicness that was the opposite of childish. 

Lacy… Goddess Eses, Lacy had grown into a beautiful woman. Lush breasts I knew would fit just perfectly in the palms of my hands, creamy skin that I wanted to mark with teeth and tongue, and big blue eyes that threatened to swallow me whole. She’d been only a child the last time I’d seen her. A beautiful child, but a child nonetheless. And now— now she was the woman I’d always known she’d be, and I was still… Well, I was still me.

I could tell both Silvia and Sami saw how affected I’d been by Lacy’s actions and words, but neither commented, though Sami seemed to have sensed how close to the edge I was. How much I was in need of his particular brand of comfort. I hadn’t been this deep inside my head in years, and Sami knew it. 

The bobcat shifter took one look at me as I walked away from the keep, and the next moment he was naked, then his fur was brushing up against my legs as he purred deep in his chest. He followed me silently out into the forest around the keep, Silvia only a few feet behind us. When we reached the clearing near Sami and Robert’s cottage, he began to herd me towards his home. I didn’t protest, unable to do anything but put one foot in front of the other. My darkness wasn’t usually triggered by anything— it tended to be something I woke up to, or felt myself falling into throughout the day, but for whatever reason, something in the way Lacy had treated me, or something else that had happened, had tripped something in my head and I was falling headfirst into my mind, my body tripping after with a speed that made me dizzy. 

Silvia stayed only long enough to push the door to Robert and Sami’s cottage open, then she was gone. I had a moment to be grateful she knew not to touch me— when I was deep like this, the simple touch of her skin against mine could very easily feel like a hot brand on my sensitized skin— before Sami was pushing against my heels towards the back bedroom.

“Sami, I can’t—” I began, unsure how comfortable I was with lying in his and Robert’s marriage bed, but he huffed out a heavy, snorting breath, and I let the matter drop. I didn’t have it in me to fight him when all I wanted to do was crawl under the blankets, cling to Sami, and let go. 

I lifted myself up into the large, four poster bed. It was covered in various quilts and pillows of differing sizes and colors. Their entire house was filled with an eclectic mix of random shiny things and clusters of blankets and pillows, like nests strewn about the house, ready for Sami to lie down whenever he liked. I pushed myself under one of the quilts, pulling Sami into my arms, tight up against my chest, and let myself fall into his gentle purrs and the heat of his body pressing against mine.


	7. The Darkness

SERA—

I woke just a few hours later, the sun only a little lower in the sky than it had been when I had stumbled into Robert and Sami’s home. I was surprised I’d been able to sleep at all— the deep, sudden darkness of the episode had been worse than I’d endured in a long time. I was still groggy, heavy, and very much still in the dark, but I was at least able to think clearly enough to not want to intrude on Sami and Robert’s home any longer. 

I sat up, frowning when I realized Sami wasn’t there in the bed with me anymore, but then his voice, and Robert’s, drifted through the walls. 

“— s her mate. He should be able to help, my Robert,” Sami whispered, his voice coming from just behind the door. It was open a crack— enough for me to see that he stood stark naked, hands on his hips, glaring up at Robert fiercely. “She’s been needin’ her mate for a long time. You can’t keep him away from her, now that he’s finally here to be what she needs.”

“Sami, it’s different for humans. She may not… may not understand, and overwhelming her right now when she’s this weak—”

“Lady Sera ain’t weak,” Sami bit out, stomping his foot like a child. Sami was probably five years older than me, a little older than 30, though we didn’t know his exact age, but his innocence and lack of tact made him very childlike in many ways. “She’s just different. Like me. I’m not weak, right mate?”

“Not even a little bit,” Robert said tiredly, rubbing his eyes and shaking his head. He looked back at me, piled up on his bed. The bed he shared with his husband of more than six years. I stayed still, pretending to still be asleep, until I could sense he was looking back at Sami. “And you’re right, Sera isn’t either. But Sami, thrusting something like this on her right now could be enough to push her back into that place you seem to pull her out of. C’mon, brat. We can’t—”

“Or it could pull her out of the darkness for good and ever.”

Robert made a strangled, choking sound, then laughed aloud. “Near-on seven years, you damn cat, and you can still say shit that makes me feel like an idiot. Fine. But we’ll ask her. Sera can choose for herself if she wants to see him.”

Sami nodded, then his eyes flicked back to me and he caught my stare. 

“She wants to see him. Don’t you, my lady?”

Sami pushed into the room, leaping up to snuggle up against my side. I lifted my hands, only a little disconcerted that he still wore not a lick of clothing. It was Sami, after all. Not only was I used to him and his nakedness, because the man couldn’t keep clothes to save his own life, but I was a healer. Naked people were something I’d grown used to long ago. Naked people rubbing up against me and purring deep in their throats was a little more difficult to get used to, but, again, it was Sami. 

“Sami, give the damn woman some space. You’re suffocating her,” Robert grumbled, following behind his husband but staying a respectful distance away. There wasn’t a hint of jealousy in Robert’s gaze, even though I knew the man had a jealous, possessive streak nearly worse than Sami’s. But Robert had no need to worry. Sami was as devoted to him as a man could be to the love of his life. 

“She doesn’t want space, mate,” Sami replied as he dug his face into my lap and curled up there. “There’s still some darkness, right Sera?”

My eyes flicked up to Robert, then looked away quickly in shame. I could feel myself blush from it, but Sami’s heat in my lap drew my attention back to him as he stared up at me. 

I’d told Sami about my episodes of darkness over the years. I never really knew what would bring them on. Not that they weren't always without reason. They tended to hit the hardest after my father visited, or sometimes when I lost a patient. A few times, I’d overtaxed my magic and been hit hard and fast. Most of the time, though, they came out of nowhere. I could be happy, laughing at Sami or in the middle of a conversation with Edon, and my belly would begin to clench. Sometimes I had warning. I would wake and feel off, groggy and disoriented, a little sore for no reason. Those were the worst ones, but at least with those I could plan to take the day away from work and not have to embarrass myself by jumping up in the middle of a conversation and excusing myself awkwardly. 

“I’m alright, Sami,” I finally managed to push out, forcing a smile that felt very much like a grimace. “You’re gonna make your husband jealous, you keep loving on me like this.”

Sami snorted and looked up at Robert mischievously. “My Robert’s not jealous of you, my lady. He knows I’m his.”

Sami’s words had me flinching and freezing in his arms, my chest clenching with want and an ache so fierce I nearly screamed with it. He tightened his hold on me, his purr growing into something like a growl. 

“I’m sorry, Sera,” he whimpered. “I’m sorry you hurt.”

I glanced again up at Robert, finding it almost ridiculous that his husband was clinging to me, naked as sin, and he only stood, watching passively. Then his eyes met mine, and I knew the truth of Sami’s words. Not only did Robert know without a shadow of a doubt that Sami was his and his alone, but he trusted me as well. He was happy to lend out his husband, if it meant helping me. I was touched by his concern, but I couldn’t rid myself of the shame of my weakness. A few words from Lacy and I fell apart. Gods, I was pathetic. 

I opened my mouth to tell Sami I was fine, was feeling a lot better, though it was mostly a lie, when a loud sound echoed through the cottage from near the front door, making me jerk and stare up at the door that led into the front room. 

“He’s wantin’ in, mate,” Sami grumbled, lifting himself up enough to stare over at Robert. “I’d be real mad if someone was keeping me from you.”

“Is someone outside?” I asked, my voice coming out harsh with what may have been disuse. 

“The bear,” Sami replied with a shrug. “He’s hurtin’ along with you, my lady, and he wants in to comfort you.”

“He’s…” I paused, my brow furrowed, before I turned back to Robert and cocked my head in question. 

“Do you …” Robert began, then shook his head and blinked steadily a few times before seeming to gather his thoughts. “You’re aware, the Akaran ambassador has it in his head you’re his mate, right?”

I froze, my breaths turning ragged, before shaking my head stupidly. “He said Lacy was his mate.”

“He’s got two,” Sami said without hesitation, and I blanched. I had studied everything I could about wild mages since I came to be Lhiam’s hedge witch in Teren. There were enough of them here, my knowing as much as possible about how to care for them would be an important part of my job. Silvia did the same, and together we shared knowledge and would both be ready if anything were to happen to the two that lived full time in the keep. My studies had moved over into the stories of wild mages, including many that catalogued their mates and that powerful bond they had with their one true partner.

Or more than one true partner. 

It was rare, but not unheard of, for a wild mage to have more than one mate. But the idea that this man, this stranger, wanted both me and Lacy was laughable. 

“Well, he’ll have to get over that real quick,” I muttered, and Sami huffed out an amused snort. 

“What is it with humans thinking wild mages can just pick another mate?” he grumbled, then he shook his head. “He’s going a little crazy out there, my lady. Can my Robert let him in?”

I nodded, shrugging because it wasn’t my home— so why was he even asking me?— but then Robert was gone and my tension rose. 

I heard Robert’s footsteps, then the door opening. A growl was followed by a few loud cracking sounds, then the hushed conversation of two men. The tone grew frustrated quickly, and Sami sat up, as if ready to move towards the front room. But before Sami could move much more than just to sit up, the Akaran ambassador stood in the doorway, his nostrils flaring, eyes wide, hands clenched into fists so tightly the veins of his arms bulged beneath his skin.

“_Mine_,” the ambassador hissed, his eyes flashing black as he rounded on Sami. “_Mast’rin mopki, c’itisi_.”

Sami bared his fangs, half shifting as he rose to his knees in front of me, hissing deeply. I watched in fascinated horror as the two half-shifted men, Sami completely naked, the Akaran wearing only a pair of ill-fitting breeches, untied at his hips, squared off and growled deeply at each other.

Sami grumbled a few things in what I thought was Akari, and I was surprised he knew the language. I’d had no idea he spoke anything but Common. Then he moved slowly away from me, leaving me staring up at the huge man, my heart in my throat, my breathing growing heavy as he turned his dark gaze onto me. 

“_Mast’rin desi’u embalo_?” he said, his words almost gentle. I shook my head, turning from the ambassador, to Sami, to Robert, then back to the ambassador. 

“I don’t speak Akari,” I whispered, watching closely as the man seemed to take a mental step back, shaking his head and finally smiling ruefully, embarrassed.

“My apologies, mate,” he replied with a glance back at Sami. “My bear… I didn’t like seeing you in bed with the cat.”

“Sami’s husband was right there. It’s not as if we were doing anything untoward.”

“You sought comfort with him, rather than me,” the Akaran returned. 

“I don’t know you.”

“I’m your mate,” he bit out, his eyes finally returning to their normal gray-green color. “Your comfort should be found in my arms, not his.”

I cocked my head at the man, studying him closely. He seemed much calmer, his body still, his eyes clear. But he still held himself stiffly, turned towards where Sami and Robert sat, watching our exchange with varied expressions on their faces. It wasn’t until I took the time to pause and assess the man that I also took note of how I felt. 

Which was... much better. I wasn’t sure if it was the excitement of what had happened that had burned away the darkness, or if it was something else, but somehow I was calmer and lighter than I had been only five minutes before. 

It wasn’t gone. The darkness still lingered, suffocating me, drowning me, making me want to dig my fingers into my own skin just to stop the numb aching, but there was something different. Something I couldn’t quite pinpoint was just a little bit lighter. Like the very idea of this man had a torch shining, flickering in the darkness that usually tore me down to my knees. 

“Why did you come here?” I asked, tugging at my clothes, trying to straighten my skirts so I could lift myself up without flashing every man in the room. 

“You were in distress, mate,” he replied matter-of-factly, and I frowned up at him. “I’ve been out there for hours, but your friends wouldn't let me in. They are protective of you.”

“You resent them that?”

“I’m glad my mates have such loyal people around them,” he answered easily. Then his eyes were flickering over my body, his brows furrowed. “I scent no illness or injury. Are you well, Sera?”

My name on his tongue sent unexpected shivers down my spine, and I fought the urge to gather the blankets up and throw myself back under them. 

“I’m fine,” I answered, ignoring Sami’s pointed look. 

“Lady Sera sometimes just needs—” Sami began, but I cut him off before he could shame me so much I never wanted to crawl out of this bed and this room. 

“—Sami! Please, don’t say anymore.”

“He’s your mate, my lady,” Sami replied with a confused, distressed frown. “He’s made to care for you. He can do so much better than I.”

“Lord Ambassador,” I began, turning from Sami and back to the Akaran. He flinched at my words and shook his head, taking a few steps forward.

“Galen,” he rasped out, his eyes still roaming my body, as if seeking out a stab wound or some physical manifestation of illness he’d never find. “Please, Sera, call me Galen.”

“Galen,” I tried again, finally standing on shaky legs and brushing out my skirts. I was trying to gather some semblance of pride and self-control, though I knew it was all but useless. “I appreciate the position you’re in, but I’m not currently looking to court. Please feel free to court Lacy, though. I’m sure the future princess needs to start thinking about—”

“Empress,” Galen cut in, his expression still concerned, barely even paying attention to what he or I was saying. 

“What?” 

“Future empress,” he said with a glance up at me, then he froze and his eyes finally lit with an emotion besides concern. Fear. “Oh. I’m unsure if I was supposed to reveal that to anyone.”

My mind blanking, my stomach heaving, I barely made it to the chamber pot beside Sami and Robert’s bed before the entire contents of my stomach, the little I’d eaten in the last twenty-four hours, emptied from me in a nearly violent rush. I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream. I wanted to find a hole and bury myself and never allow myself the light of day again.

_If you thought you didn’t have a chance with her before_, the dark, twisted voice in my head, sounding very much like Grayson, taunted. _What about now_?


	8. Conviction

GALEN—

I stared down at my mate as her knees buckled, her sick hitting the bucket beside the large bed with a wet spatter. I’d waited hours to get into the place where I could sense she was, distressed, nearly out of her mind with pain, and now I was here, and somehow I’d made things worse.

When Robert had finally opened the door to let me into the house, I’d shifted quickly and tried to push past him. But with only a frustrated grunt, he forced me back and held up a pair of soft wool breeches.

“You’re not going in to see her until you’re at least half-covered, mage,” he grumbled, his eyes fixedly anywhere but my groin. I rolled my eyes, annoyed at the way every culture but my own was obsessed with modesty, but I knew I had to cover up or getting in to see my mate would be delayed. Once dressed, I’d finally been allowed in, and she was lying in a bed with the bobcat shifter, his body wrapped around hers, his scent covering her so completely it was as if he had purposely scent marked her. 

“Mine,” I growled in Common, then without thought, I switched to Akari as my bear rose up and forced me forward, towards the man who thought to take from me what I had only just found for myself. “_She’s_ my _mate, cat_.”

The bobcat immediately went on the defensive, as if he needed to protect _my_ mate from _me_. He rose up, hissing, and grumbled, “_I’m not claiming her. She’s my friend, and she needed me_.”

He moved away when his words calmed me some, and I turned back to my mate. 

“_Are you alright, mate_?” I asked her, not even realizing I was still speaking in Akari until she replied that she didn’t speak the tongue. 

Now, I glanced up at Robert and the bobcat, wholly unsure of how to proceed. Robert made a shooing motion towards Sera, so I moved forward and dropped down to my knees beside her. I kept my hands clenched in my lap, fearful to touch her in case it hurt her more. 

Sera spit into the bucket, her hand shaking as she wiped her mouth with the back of it. A tug on my arm had me turning to Sami, who held a small cup of water to me. I took it and pulled my mate towards me, my heart thumping in my chest when she allowed the touch. I set the cup into her hand, pushing her fingers to wrap around it.

“Drink, sweet mate,” I whispered against her hair, feeling her thin body trembling in my arms. When she had drunk, her eyes closed against whatever pain had her vomiting the contents of her stomach, I set the cup on the ground beside me and pulled my mate up against my chest. She let me move her, but my happiness was short-lived as I realized that in the state she was in, she would have let anyone hold her. 

“Can you tell me what I said that upset you so? I swear, I didn’t mean it, mate, whatever it was.”

“Please,” she rasped, her shaking intensifying. “Please stop calling me that.”

My heart clenched but I nodded and obeyed my mate’s wishes. “Yes, Sera. I apologize. I don’t mean to distress you.”

She shook her head, but then fell silent, and I glanced back up when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. 

“Let’s go, my Robert,” Sami whispered, dragging Robert over to the door.

“Sami, we cannot leave a lady of Teren Keep alone with a man who’s all but a stranger.” Robert dug his heels in, glaring down at me with eyes that promised pain if I so much as touched the lady wrong. 

“He’s her mate. He won’t hurt her. C’mon, my Robert. We’ll be right out in the front room. Lady Sera, just scream real loud if you need us.”

“Sami,” Robert growled, but Sami ignored him, yanking on his arm as Robert reluctantly followed the smaller man out of the room. I watched them with bemusement, and snorted when Sami waved at me with a smirk as he shut the door behind him. 

“He’s…” I began, but Sera’s soft, weary chuckle against my chest had me looking down at her. 

“He’s the kindest, gentlest man I know,” she whispered, and her hot breaths hitting my naked chest had my muscles tightening. 

“You love him?” I asked. I wasn’t sure what I was feeling. Maybe a bit of jealousy, anger definitely, but there was some understanding there. My mate had needed comfort, and she had taken it where she could. If she had fallen in love with the bobcat mage during those times he comforted her, I would just have to prove to her that the connection between her and I was much stronger. 

“Yes, but not in the way you’re thinking.”

“As a friend.”

“He’s like my brother,” she replied, then sat up, pushing away from me. I mourned the loss, but forced patience on myself. I knew that sometimes non-mage mates could be difficult to convince. Sometimes it just took them a while to accept the bond, which I was alright with. I’d wait. If there was anything I had in abundance, especially when it came to my mates, it was patience. “I’m sorry you had to see me get upset. I’m impossibly embarrassed.”

“M— Sera, you never need feel embarrassment with me. I’m your mate.”

Sera flinched, but she held my gaze steady. “Listen,” she began, pulling back so she was kneeling before me, her hands clasped tightly in her lap. I shook my head, and she froze, studying me, then sighed. 

“It’s alright, Sera,” I said gently, my fingers twitching with wanting to reach out and touch her. Just put my hand against hers, feel her heat against my own skin. “I promise, I won’t push you, and I understand that this is a lot for anyone who isn’t a mage. Just allow me to stay at your side, and I’ll go at whatever pace you need.”

“Galen, I’m not…” She paused, shaking her head, then met my eyes and bit her lip. I stared at the motion, my prick, against my will, twitching at the sight of her soft pink tongue against her lips. “I’m not a good bet, for a mate. I wouldn’t make a good partner for anyone, much less a wild mage.”

I wanted to laugh, because I’d heard stories about how some non-mages didn’t understand the mating bond in any way, but I held myself back because I knew my stunning mate might take my laughter as mocking, and I’d never forgive myself if I hurt her again. 

“You’re the mate I was given, sweet Sera,” I answered. “So you’re the perfect mate for a wild mage.”

She froze a little, then rolled her eyes. “Are you all like this?”

“Like this?”

“So sure of yourselves? Sami was the same way with Robert. So certain they were mates, that someday they’d be together, and it was just fact for him.”

“Because it is fact. I can’t guarantee you’ll eventually choose to be with me, but you and Lacy being my mates? That’s not disputable; it’s written in the books of fate. So, lover or not, I’ll stay by your side, because you’re my mate, and I can do no other.”

“You have no choice? Does that not bother you, that you’re stuck with people you don’t even know, and had no choice over?”

“I was given two beautiful women who were made for me, as much as I was made for them, to love and cherish and honor for the rest of my life. How could I possibly begrudge that?”

She stared at me, wide-eyed, then looked down and away. 

“I wish I had your conviction,” she whispered, so quietly I didn’t think I would have heard her if I had the hearing of a human. 

“You will,” I said confidently. “I’ll help you find it, sweet Sera. The three of us will find our conviction together.”

Something happened to my mate in that moment. Something very dark, and very painful, and it took every bit of my self control to hold myself back from pulling her up into my arms and using the heat of my body to warm hers. 

“Galen, Lacy is…” she began, but then her voice caught and she sobbed, her hands coming up to cover her mouth. 

“Please, m— ah, Sera, let me hold you. Gods, your pain is potent.”

Sera shook her head, scooting away from me a few inches, and my breath caught at the move. 

“No, I-I’m sorry. Gods, I’m pathetic. This is pathetic,” she gasped as tears filled her eyes. “Galen, Lacy is royalty, and I know you’re Akaran, and you may not understand what that means, but it means she’s very out of reach to the both of us.”

“I’m Akaran, yes, but I’ve been an ambassador in three different foreign countries over the last five years, Sera. I do understand what it means. You are a noblewoman, though. If anything, you have a better chance of being with her than I, do you not?”

She shook her head and glared up at me. “I know you know,” she hissed, almost angry now. I was almost grateful for that anger. It was better than the deep, sucking, desperate dark sadness. “I know you know what I am.”

I knew what she was speaking of, because even in Akar, where gender meant nothing to most of the inhabitants, people like my Sera were rare and often misunderstood. 

“I know who you are, Sera. Is it a problem for Lacy?” 

Sera snorted and again glared up at me. “It’s not for you? You don’t even question it, question me?”

Again I wanted to laugh, but at the same time, I was very close to tears. “Sera, the woman in your soul is stunning. Why would I—”

“Because I’m a man, Galen!” she yelled, her face turning red as her lips trembled and her eyes grew wide, brimming with something she’d never allow to spill. “And they would never let a man who masquerades as a woman court the princess— gods, the future Empress!— much less marry her! And if you think that’s an issue, wait until they catch wind of the fact you think the _three_ of us are mates!”

I waited out her anger, my eyes steady on her, before I leaned forward to catch her eye. “Sera, Fate gave you and Lacy to me to protect, and honor, and to love. She would not have done so if there was no chance for the three of us to be together.”

Sera sat back on her heels, her eyes hardening and her face falling into a mask of calm as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “I’m sorry, Galen,” she said, her tone almost gentle, if it wasn’t so devoid of emotion. “I’m sorry you got stuck with me for a mate, but you need to give up.”

I snorted but chose to ignore my mate’s ridiculous words for now. “Can you tell me what upset you so, Sera?” I asked again, pushing her to go back to whatever upset her so much, as she pulled away and shakily stood. “Was it something I said, or—“

“—Lacy,” she cut in, moving to the window to stare out, her thin arms wrapped around her shaking shoulders. I dug my fingernails into my palms to keep myself from going to her. I rose to my feet, though, standing ready to catch her, anytime she needed my arms to fall into. “Gods, Galen, if I’d had no chance with her before… _Empress_,” she bit out, and I understood then. 

“You love her very much, don’t you?” I whispered, daring to take just a few steps towards her. 

A little sound, very much like a sob, met my ears and I finally pushed through and forced myself to stand just behind my mate. I fingered the golden strands of her hair, falling in glowing ribbons down across her body, and then traced the line from her shoulder blades down her back. She shivered but didn’t pull away, so I set my hand on her hip, offering silent comfort for her pain. 

“You and I, we were made to be the mates to a great Empress, Sera,” I whispered, barely holding myself back from plastering my body up against hers and just holding her still against me. “Fate has given us to her, and she to us. Everything else— every dark thought, every reason why not, every fear in your mind— they’re inconsequential. If we but fight for each other, the three of us are three parts of a whole.”

“Gods above,” Sera whispered, her voice breathy and so husky I knew fresh tears were pouring down her cheeks. “To have that, that strength and conviction. I can almost see this future you’re painting.”

“My strength is yours, dearest Sera. Anytime yours falters, mine is more than sufficient to hold us both for a time. And together, our strength is enough to help Lacy be the greatest leader Nefiir has ever known.”


	9. Distracted

LACY—

I should have spent the afternoon after lunch, after the great reveal of Riece’s plans to my family, catching up with my friends in Teren and the surrounding areas, reacquainting myself with my childhood home after more than five years away. It may be my last chance to do so before the news broke about my giving up my cousin’s throne for another and I became too busy to visit. But I spent it on edge and out of focus. I was unable to move from Edon and Lhiam’s study, staring out the window, pretending to listen as Edon spoke of the things I’d missed since the last time he and Lhiam had visited Swyer. 

After the third time Edon had to snap his fingers in front of my face to get my attention, he frowned and asked Tate, Lhiam’s chief advisor, where Lady Sera was. I jerked at the sound of her name and looked up, listening intently for Tate’s answer. 

“She’s out gathering herbs with Sami and Mistress Silvia,” Tate answered, his eyes on me, intent and watchful. Curious, but also concerned. 

“And the Akaran ambassador?” Edon questioned. 

“He left after lunch, and I haven’t heard anything from him since.”

“Do we have a guard on him?” 

“No, sir,” Tate answered, drawing an eye roll from Edon. Edon never had gotten used to the respectful titles he had gained by marrying my cousin nearly seven years before. 

I stood abruptly, knowing I startled Edon but barely caring as I took a few steps away before tilting my head towards the window. 

“I’m taking a walk. I need some fresh air.”

“I’ll come w—” Edon began, but I cut him off. 

“— I won’t go far, I promise. I need some time alone. Please, Edon.”

Edon’s gaze was probing, his wide amber eyes studying me like he wanted to reach directly into my mind and pull out my thoughts, but he gave a nod of assent and I moved quickly to the door and out into the hall. I had no idea why my chest was as tight as a vice, or why my mind raced, or why my muscles clenched as if ready for a fight, but I tried to push past it all and move through the halls without letting anyone know that I was silently waging a battle with my own body and mind. 

I looked out to the east, to the thickest part of the forest that surrounded Teren Keep, where I knew Silvia and Sera would find the best herbs. Where I knew they would be, with Sami keeping them safe. Then I pointed myself west and picked my way out of the keep and towards town. I passed a few guards and farmers and others on the road, each of them recognizing me and waving, smiling, and calling out. 

I was able to push past my mental fog a few times, asking Jon Gullinen about his family,— his wife had borne him three more children since the last time I’d been in Teren— Hale Onrey about the fish that had just come in from the western kingdoms,— they were much smaller, more bony than the ones last month— and Ace Trestiq about his studies— he’d be sworn in as a collared priest in only a few more months. 

I hadn’t walked a mile before I noticed the shadow that followed me, a good few meters behind, and I rolled my eyes and stopped, turning to glare down at the black wolf that watched me, his head cocked, amber eyes wide with concern and feigned innocence.

“I’m not a child anymore, Edon,” I muttered, crossing my arms as I watched him pad lightly up to me, his tail tucked halfway between his legs, his ears pressed back against his head. 

“Maybe not,” a gruff, deep voice said from behind Edon, and I turned and watched Cain come around the bend in the road I’d just moved past. “But you’re the heir to the Emperor of We’ren. What is it with you royals and putting yourself in obvious danger?”

“I’m in Teren. There’s no danger here.”

“You were kidnapped and nearly raped right outside the keep walls, princess,” Cain grumbled, and I flinched and looked away. 

“You’re a royal too, you know,” I bit out petulantly. 

“I married into it. The stupid isn’t in my blood,” Cain retorted and I bit back the urge to roll my eyes childishly. Again. 

Edon made a little whining, huffing noise, and I looked down at him. 

“I’m alright, Edon. Just a little overwhelmed.”

“Nah, there’s something wrong,” Cain said with a nonchalance I wanted to kick him for. 

“What the— what does that mean?” I bit out, only just barely holding myself from cursing at him. 

“The tentative bond between you and your mates is straining. Something dark is trying to cut it.”

I shook my head, flabbergasted. “It’s a visible thing, now, is it?”

“Not really,” Cain said, still completely unconcerned with my irritation as he began to walk towards town. 

I’d grown close to Cain and Riece in my years in Swyer. Though I attended the Women’s College there, a finishing school for noblewomen, I had lived in the palace, just next to Cain and Riece’s suite of rooms. They’d become a surrogate family to me, in place of Edon and Lhiam, and Cain had become a great source of frustration and affection for me. The man knew how to push my buttons, but he was also the closest thing to a father I had besides Lhiam. Which was odd, because he was only a handful of years older than me. 

My mother and father had died when I was born, my father on his way home for my birth, and my mother giving birth to me. I never knew them, but Lhiam, my mother’s cousin, who had raised me even though he was still too young to do so, had ensured they were never far from our home. He kept their portraits on the wall of the drawing room of our suite in Teren Keep, so I saw it every morning when I woke and came out of my bedroom. He told me stories about them, about how they met, how they fell in love, how my mother teased my father about his big ears. He told me about how much I looked like my mother, and how I had my father’s backbone. My mother’s laugh. He ensured they stayed with me every day of my life, and I knew them, though I’d never met them, because of him. 

Lhiam had been the only family I knew growing up, and he was my father more than anything, but not even he had known what to do with my frustrations and petulance when it came to Lady Sera. I’d seen her at her father’s castle when I was eleven and had barely been able to eat, think, or sleep for thoughts of her. Something had drawn me to her so strongly it scared me. She’d pushed me away, gently, citing my age as the reason she was refusing my advances. I’d been upset and childish and punished her for her rejections with rude and petty words, but looking back now, I could see how hard she had tried not to hurt me. She’d never scolded me in front of others, had never tried to push me away with cruelty, though I definitely deserved it. She only told me, in that soft, melodic voice, that she wasn’t the one for me, and that someday, I’d understand.

I understood now that I had been a child, and she, though not that much older, was too old for me at the time. Now I would stay away for embarrassment, and because she was right. She wasn’t the one for me, but not for the reasons I knew she thought it was the truth. I was now nearly twenty, four years above the age of consent, and she’d never sought me out. Never sent a letter or visited or gave me more than a passing thought. She had traveled through Swyer, or visited others there, dozens of times in the six years I’d been gone, and never once had she even thought to come to me to pay her respects. To see an old friend. To check in with the woman who was the girl who had loved her. Gods above, still loved her. So now I knew what I should have known then: she denied me for more than my age. 

It was painful, but I’d managed to move past it. Or, I’d thought I had. Seeing her again… Gods, I was right back to being that awkward little girl, pining after a woman who barely looked twice at me. A woman whose kindness was extended to all those around her, though I desired it only to be directed at me. 

And now, on top of my frustrations over Sera, I had a big, hulking man who had thought to claim I was his mate, and then disappeared without a word. 

“Lacy!” Cain hissed, and I jerked back, shocked at the frustration in his voice. Cain was perpetually angry, or seemed as though he was, but he very rarely directed that ire at me. When I looked up at him, towering nearly two feet above me, he was glaring at me with irritation. But also a touch of concerned sadness I took a few steps away from him to try to quell. 

“Why are you yelling, you big brute?” I grumbled, pointedly wiping a bit of his spittle from my face with a grimace. 

“You’ve been zoned out for nearly ten minutes. Where were you?”

“I’m right here,” I bit back.

Cain studied me and I looked away. It was only then I realized I was in the middle of town, Edon was wrapped comfortingly around my ankles, and a few townspeople watched me with concern and curiosity. 

I’d walked the league from the keep to town without remembering hardly any of it.

“We should check on your mates,” Cain said, his hand twitching, as if he wanted to reach towards me but didn’t want to spook me. 

“What are you talking about— Wait…” I began, frowning and leaning forward, whispering, “Mates? Plural? What the hell does that mean?” 

“Yes, mates. The ambassador and Sera,” Cain said, as if I was slow or stupid and he was repeating something he’d said already. 

“That’s…” I trailed off, looking down at Edon, then back up at Cain, before grabbing his arm and yanking him towards the bakery just behind him. 

Fina’s Bakery was, I thought, one of my cousin’s greatest achievements. Though there’d never been a woman shop owner in Teren history, Lhiam had pressed the bank to offer Fina a loan, though they were ready to turn it down, spouting various reasons that all came out to “she’s a woman and won’t be able to do it.” Fina had proven them all wrong, because I knew noblemen in Swyer who travelled to Teren just to buy her cakes and sweetmeats. Her business had brought trade into Teren that had the bank nearly begging Fina to take another loan to expand her bakery. 

I used to help Fina with her recipes when I was a child, before she opened her shop and she still worked in the castle. I was her “Official Taste-Tester,” and grew sick multiple times with how she plied me with chocolates, various sweetbreads, or her newest sugary creation. The woman was stick-thin, somehow, and when she saw me walk through the doors of her bakery, though the place was so crowded I could barely breathe for the lack of air, she bellowed loudly and pushed her way towards me.

“Your highness!” she cried, scooping me up against her and squeezing me so tightly I lost what breath I had in my lungs. “Goddess Alma you grew up beautiful, my girl!” 

She pulled away, her hands cupping my cheeks, and studied me with a discerning eye. 

“I bet the men of Swyer just line up for you, girl,” she said, shaking her head as she pulled away and took my hand, all but dragging me through the bakery. I yanked on Cain’s arm, forcing him to follow, and I was amused by the greetings called out to both Cain and Edon, who followed behind him. In just a little over half a decade, my people had grown used to the wild mages that now walked among them, though We’ren had been fairly magicless before Lhiam first found Edon. With Edon’s sweet disposition and obvious love for Teren’s prince, and Cain’s staunch loyalty and devotion to his husband the Emperor, the people of Teren, of most of We’ren, had grown to accept the change the two men represented. Sami, though less influential than Cain and Edon, since he hadn’t married royalty, was treated similarly, as far as I’d seen. A little more like a pet than family, but that, I thought, was what he preferred. I’d only met him a few times, but the man was… odd, to say the least. 

“I wish they wouldn’t. I’d prefer a line of women,” I muttered, drawing a chuckle from Cain behind me.

“Ah,” Fina said, stopping at the door to the back room, turning back to me. “And do they?”

“Do they what?”

“Do women line up for you?”

I laughed and rolled my eyes. “Women aren’t half so easy to bring to their knees as men.”

Fina huffed out a laugh. “I’ll have to take your word for it. Now, stay here. I’ll be back.”

The baker pushed us through the door, into a small drawing room where her employees rested in between busy times. There were a handful of cushioned armchairs, a fireplace devoid of heat at the moment, and a little table with three chairs set around it. I dragged Cain to the table and he sat with a bemused smirk as I turned on him with my hands on his hips. When he was sitting, we were eye-to-eye. Gods, how I wished I was taller. Or that the men around me were shorter. 

“Talk,” I bit out. “What did you mean, mates?”

“I’m pretty sure you know more about wild magic than I do, Lacy,” Cain said with a shrug. “You know there can be multiple.”

“How do you know? Did Galen say something?” 

“Yes. He said you and Sera were both his mates. I wished him luck and godsspeed.”

I bit back a sharp reply at his bemused words and kicked at the table leg. “You—” I began, but I was cut off by Fina pushing her way back into the room. 

“Now, we’re full as all the hells out there, so I can’t stay long. But you’ll stay so we can chat and catch up, right, my dear? I haven’t seen you in years!”

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied as she set down a huge platter of sweatmeats, chocolate candies, and little finger sandwiches made with her god-like bread. 

She tutted, looking me up and down, then she nodded and turned from me, down to Edon. 

“Some of my boys keep changes of clothes in the cupboards over yonder, your highness, if you’d like to dress. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind you borrowing some, though I think most will be a tad too big for you,” Fina said, and then she was gone in a flurry of flour and busyness. 

Cain huffed out a laugh and stood, moving to the cupboards Fina had pointed out. He pulled out a shirt, tunic, and breeches, and set them on the armchair near the window. 

Edon turned to face me and I rolled my eyes, turning my back to him and crossing my arms. “You act as if I’ve never seen you naked before, you prude.”

“I’ve never met a wild mage with a sense of modesty,” Cain put in, and after a flurry of movement and cracking of bones, Edon’s voice came, breathy and annoyed. 

“She’s basically my husband’s daughter. Don’t give me that look, Cain.” 

After a moment, Cain said, “All the fun bits are covered, Lace,” and I turned to see a red-faced, still shirtless Edon glaring Cain down as he laced up the too-big trousers. 

“See, this is one of the reasons women are just _better_ than men. The boring bits on men are some of the best bits on women.” I grinned as Edon grew even redder as I pointedly stared at his chest.

“Ah, not true,” Cain replied. “There have been quite a few times I’ve made Riece come just playing with his nipples. The man’s more sensitive there than—”

“Gods, stop it!” Edon cried out, raising his hands to his face and groaning. “The two of you should be banned from being in the same room!”

I huffed out a laugh— goddess, Edon was easy to fluster— but then turned to Cain. 

“Talk, brute. What did Galen say about Sera?” 

“Poor man,” Cain said with obviously feigned pity. “You care not a whit for him, do you?”

“You know I’ve never been attracted to men, Cain.”

“He’s your mate, Lacy,” Edon said, almost weakly. “It doesn’t matter what sex he is.”

“It does to me,” I replied with a shrug and a frown. 

“Robert said the same thing,” Edon said, so quietly I almost didn’t hear him. 

“What? Your guard?”

“Robert had never been with a man, had never had any interest in men. Sami was… Lacy, I know you understand about wild mages. Like Cain said, you’ve read more about us than anyone I know. You’re practically an expert. You know if you weren’t perfect for each other, he wouldn’t be your mate.”

“Then he must be wrong,” I tried, knowing I was being childish. But the idea of being with him was being overshadowed by the tiny kernel of hope that this might open Sera’s eyes to me and maybe help her see _me_. 

“How does Sera feel about this?”

“I’d say one of them is upset, so I’m not sure how well she’s taking it.”

“What do you mean, upset? Why do you say that?”

Edon studied me, then turned to Cain, as if for help. 

“Do you remember when Riece had that terrible fever, Lace? About five years ago?”

“Oh gods, and he wouldn’t stop whining about how the little naked men were trying to lick his butthole, and he didn’t want them to, because it belonged to his husband, but they were telling him they wanted him to be their steed, but he didn’t want to be the tiny men’s noble steed? Then he kept asking me why I didn’t want to be his Larry and I couldn’t figure out what the hell that meant.”

Edon choked on the little bite of sandwich he’d just taken and Cain rolled his eyes, slapping the smaller man on the back as Edon reached for a glass and filled it with water. 

“His hallucinations were… eye-opening, yes, but that’s not what I’m talking about. Do you remember me? Where was I when he first got sick?”

“Hmm,” I mumbled, furrowing my brow to try to remember. It had been five years before, and I’d been in the middle of testing for my next year of schooling. “You were away, I think. In some fishing village, though I don’t remember why.”

“River got into some trouble in Yur’koi with Griffin, and I had to go bring him back.”

“Ah yes, he and Griffin still hate the Yur’koi governor for locking them up after what they did to help the town.”

“Yes, I know. Griffin wouldn’t shut up about it when the governor came to visit last summer. I nearly sent him on leave while he was there. The point is, I was away, a few days’ ride away, and I made it back to the palace in a matter of a day because I sensed the sickness in my mate.”

“I remember. You came tearing into the palace courtyard and nearly tackled Lady Sorcha. Then the poor woman nearly swallowed her tongue when you shifted in front of her. Seriously, what is it with you and—“

“— My mate was calling for me through the bond with his pain. I couldn’t even think or breathe or walk straight until I got to his side.”

“So you’re saying my, ah, distractedness today—“ Edon snorted at my word choice, but I ignored him and continued on, “—is due to either Galen or Sera being upset?”

“I’d say you’re more than _distracted_, Lace, and one of them is more than _upset_.”

“Why now? This can’t be the first time in any of our lives any of us has been hurt or afraid or otherwise feeling strong emotion. Why is it only affecting me now?”

“Because the three of you met, and the bond pushed into place,” Cain answered. He’d begun to devour the little sandwiches and sweatmeats, but I was completely uninterested in them. My stomach still roiled with nausea and my mind was still so fuzzy it was hard to push past it. 

“I’ve known Sera for years.”

“Yes, but without the wild mage to put the magic into the bond, it wasn’t a fate bond. Not to say you and Sera aren’t mates as much as you’re both mates to Galen, but without him, it’s not a fated bond. Does that make sense? It took his magic to cement it into place.”

“But you must have felt something, all this time,” Edon said, watching me with knowing eyes. “You have no magic, but your body or soul, something, must have known what Sera would be for you.”

“What she can never be for me,” I replied bitterly, and nearly bit back a curse when Edon and Cain exchanged a guarded look. 

“We know how you feel about her. How you’ve always felt about her. Why couldn’t you be together?” Cain asked, his face set, but his eyes curious. 

“It has nothing to do with _my_ feelings. I made _my_ feelings perfectly clear. But you seem to be forgetting, _so did she_.”


	10. Together

GALEN— 

Sera and I were quiet for a time, my hand on her hip our only connection. I felt her tears, her pain, and the love she had for the woman she’d pushed away for fear of her own inadequacies. I let her feel them, but I knew it would only be a matter of time before our third mate pushed her fears away. 

Because she had to. It was what fate decreed, so thus it would be. 

When her tears had dried, the tang of salt lessening in the air, I pulled back and tugged gently on Sera’s arm to turn her to me, then held my hand out for hers. 

“Come, Sera,” I said with as much of a smile as I could muster. Gods, my patience would be tested winning my mates’ trust and love, wouldn’t it? “You have not eaten lunch, nor dinner. Come share a meal with me.”

Her eyes, swollen and red from her tears, studied my hand, then my face, then my hand again, before she shook her head. With only a little more hesitation she set her thin, calloused, dirt-and-green stained fingers against my own in acquiescence of my request. 

I led her gently out of the room and once we made it out to the front room, we were met with a— gratefully— clothed Sami and watchful Robert. I wanted to thank them for their care of my mate, but I feared causing her offense, since she had yet to accept my claim on her. 

“You feelin’ better, Sera?” Sami asked, and Sera nodded and smiled down at him sweetly. She ruffled his hair, and the growl that rose to my throat was held back only by strength of will. 

_Mine_, my bear growled, not liking even a little our mate touching another while she was still unclaimed. 

“Thank you, Sami,” she said, then nodded her thanks to Robert as well, silently respecting his claim on the bobcat. 

“You’re welcome here anytime, my lady,” Robert said, his gruff, deep voice wholly sincere. 

“You’re probably hungry, but you should get dressed in your pretty-sparkly clothes, Sera,” Sami said, his eyes flickering to me, then back to my mate again. “The royals’re having a party and you can eat there.”

“A party?” Sera asked, her voice scratchy and deep from her tears. 

“Yes,” Robert said with a shrug. “Luckily I’m off duty tonight. I hate those damn balls. It’s a welcome home party for the princess. Mostly just the Emperor, Cain, the Teren royals, and a few of the courtiers that live in the keep, so it should be a pretty small get-together.”

Sera’s eyes met mine, and though hers were full of reluctance and fear, I knew my excitement was far too obvious. 

“We’ll get to see our Lacy,” I said, smiling when Sera rolled her eyes and Robert snorted. 

“Gods, you _are_ all the same,” Sera replied reluctantly. 

I moved toward her, my fingers moving up to trace the dark shadows under her eyes. My mate had a darkness in her heart she’d battled her entire life. It wasn’t only the sex she was born and the woman she truly was, though that dichotomy didn’t help much. It was something else, a pain that haunted her every day, no matter how she fought it back. Something I knew whispered lies into her ears and told her she was unworthy and alone. Would always be alone. 

It was an evil I would battle by her side, one I knew Lacy would be all too happy to help her push back as much as was possible. Not wholly, because it was the kind of sickness that could be fought and could be negated, and forced to rest. But it would never be fully defeated. 

That was alright, though. My mates were both powerful women, and my bear would hold them up while they fought Sera’s darkness back until it was a much smaller beast for her to fight. 

“Borrow my conviction until you find your own, Sera. I have enough for the both of us.”

Sera shook her head and laughed softly, then pulled away from me and moved to the door. 

“C’mon, Akaran. You’ll be wanted at the ball too. Let’s get this over with.”

SERA—

_“Yes, just like that,” Lacy murmured against the woman’s lips, her hips thrusting forward as her hand disappeared into the other girl’s skirts. “You’re so wet for me. Feel so good. You gonna come on my fingers, Deanna? Go on. I want to feel your cunt tighten on me. C’mon, come!”_

_I stared at Lacy’s back, my horror and heartbreak feeling as if it was lava in my veins. If I’d known… Gods, I couldn’t see this. I didn’t want to—_

_As quietly as I could, I pressed back and out of the library, where I’d been directed when I had asked for Lacy. I hit the wall on the other side of the hallway, my chest heaving as my numb brain tried to process. _

_All of her words of affection. All of her words of love and devotion and… Gods, she’d convinced me to love her, and it had been just what I’d thought: a fickle crush. One easily forgotten when faced with any other option._

I shook my head and pressed the memory back, refusing to wallow again, like I had for months after returning from chasing after Lacy in Swyer. I wouldn’t let my feelings for her drag me back down again. 

The darkness was at bay for now, though it scared me how heavy it had been all day, since Lacy had come back to Teren. I wasn’t quite sure if it was Lacy’s easy dismissal of me, or maybe something to do with the mating bond affecting my magic, that had pushed me so far past the edge and into the deep, heavy black, but I did know I wanted to never feel that way again. I’d only been _that_ bad a handful of times before, and it was a loss of control that I _despised_. 

Galen walked me to my suite of rooms in the castle silently, his big body a steady, warm presence beside me. His words had somehow calmed and terrified me at the same time. I recognized that the wild mages thought their bonding to be indisputable, and I didn’t doubt that he felt it for both me and Lacy, but I did doubt my worthiness. To be with not only him but Lacy? There were days I couldn’t even get out of bed, and even on the days I could, I spent the majority of my day forcing myself to focus on _anything_ but the voices in my mind. 

I dressed quickly, washing my face and applying copious amounts of face powder, trying to cover the dark bruise-like shadows under my eyes. There was nothing I could do for them being swollen and red, but the sun was setting outside, and the ballroom would be lit by candlelight, so I could only pray no one would notice.

I wore an emerald dress of pure silk, with gray-green lace around the edges of my wrists and neckline. I wore a corset, managing to push up my small breasts and making them look just a little bit plumper, and limited my jewelry to a pair of emerald earrings. I wore only a bit of rogue on my cheeks and face makeup under my eyes, knowing I looked pale and sickly, with nearly purple bags under my eyes otherwise. 

It took me much longer than normal to dress, mostly due to the fear of seeing Lacy again. Would she ignore me, pretend I didn’t exist? Would she say something that dropped me back into the dark? Was I so weak that she held me in the palm of her hands, twisting my emotions and mind with the waves of her fingers and bite of her words? 

I’d realized my feelings for Lacy years before, when she’d left Teren without a backwards glance. Without saying goodbye. Because the hurt of that— the pain of her leaving without a word to me— had sent me into the darkness so deep I nearly lost the battle with my own mind. I had grown used to her gentle flattery, her sweet words of youthful affection. Her nearly constant presence. I’d pushed her away because our ages were incompatible when she was still so young, and her royal status wouldn’t allow her to choose another woman as her partner. But somehow, I’d still allowed myself to bask in her attentions and love and I’d begun to accept and even enjoy it. 

It wasn’t until she, and her attention, were gone that I’d realized how very fervently I returned her affections. 

Visiting her a few months after she left, seeking her out to tell her to wait for me, had been one of the greatest mistakes of my life. I’d wanted to tell her to learn what she needed and grow into the woman I could love without hesitation, and when she returned, we’d try. I was willing to fight against the people who may not like us as a couple, if she was willing to do the same. To accept me and love me and stand by my side, as I stood by hers. 

It was a great mistake, because I’d waited too long, and she’d moved on. I’d fought past my reservations and fears and gathered my courage, going to her even though she’d left with no inkling that she still wanted me. And I’d found her with… 

Well, it didn’t matter. She’d moved on, and I was, as I’d initially thought, a childhood crush that she easily found a replacement for. 

Luckily, there would only be a few dozen people at the ball tonight, many of whom were friends, so I took comfort in that. Lhiam and Edon only kept a handful of courtiers in the castle proper. Many of the other Teren nobles had nearby castles or manors of their own, because the royal family preferred their privacy and the quiet of their country life. 

When I finally made it out of my suite of rooms, Galen met me just down the hall, dressed in a fine suite of deep black with an emerald green tunic. I stared him down and he smirked, though I refused to ask him how he knew what color my dress would be. He wanted me to ask him, I could tell from the smug way he watched me, so instead I ignored him and let him lead me through the castle to the banquet hall. 

GALEN—

There was a definite lull in the conversation when Sera and I walked into the banquet room. Whether that was because we were there together, if it was just that I was there and I was a stranger, or if it was the way Lacy’s spine lengthened and her eyes shot to us, her eyes wide and her mouth pursed, I wasn’t sure. One way or another, the hundred or so people in the room quieted just a little, and dozens of eyes turned to me and Sera. 

Lacy immediately moved over to us, and I could nearly taste the tension that began to roll off of Sera’s body. Outwardly, she looked no different than she had seconds before, but I could see it, buried deep. Discomfort. Hurt. Longing. 

And fear. Quite a bit of fear. 

“Lady Sera, Ambassador Galen,” Lacy said with a polite head-tilt at us both. She wore a smooth, nearly plain dark blue dress in a style similar to Sera’s, but much sturdier and more practical than Sera’s elegant, almost flimsy gown. The sleeves were long, ending in black lace around her fingers, and I had to hold back a smile when I tasted the steel she had strapped to her body. There were maybe four daggers strapped to her legs and tucked up against her forearms. 

_My royal mate has bite_, I thought as I perused her pale, petite form. 

“Your highness,” Sera replied with a curtsy, her skirts held in long, bloodless fingers as she rose back up and met Lacy’s eyes. “Welcome home. I hear congratulations are in order.”

Lacy’s expression shuttered and she looked from Sera, to me, then back again, before she smiled thinly and shook her head. 

“Let’s find some bit of privacy, shall we?”

Lacy turned on her heel and, without waiting for confirmation from either me nor Sera, walked over to one side of the large ballroom and pushed out of the double glass doors and into the starless night. Sera and I followed, Sera’s hand on my arm shaking just the smallest bit. I held back from reaching for her, sensing my touch, other than what she was allowing already, would be unwelcome in the anxious state she was in. She clutched my arm for comfort, so I sought satisfaction in that. 

When I held the door open for Sera, she thanked me quietly and moved in front of me. Lacy waited on the far side of what I could now see was a large balcony overlooking the town below. It was just past sunset, so many of the homes still had candle and hearth lights lit, making the town glow against the dark of the starless night.

“What was revealed this afternoon was not meant to be shared yet,” Lacy said without preamble, her eyes heavy on me. She didn’t seem upset, only stern, so I smiled and shrugged a little. 

“I don’t keep secrets from my mates,” I explained. “So don’t say anything around me you wouldn’t want both of you to know.”

Lacy’s face softened, just a little, and she nodded. 

“So then you’ve told Lady Sera about that?”

“I have,” I replied, not saying more, because Sera’s distress and frustration was now rolling off of her in waves and I nearly itched with it. 

“Is this something we have to discuss now? Here?” Sera bit out, cutting Lacy off just as she opened her mouth to speak again. 

“Shouldn’t we?” Lacy nearly whispered, her gaze locked on Sera, though the other woman refused to meet her eyes. Sera stared up at the sky, her face pale, her eyes haunted. “I think it’s something the three of us need to discuss at length, really.”

“I disagree,” Sera returned, taking a pointed step away from me. I only just managed to hide my flinch when the move had a shot of pain digging into my ribs. “It’s impossible, so why dwell on it?”

“What’s impossible?” Lacy asked, her tone never wavering, never darkening or growing impatient or angry. 

“This. The three of us. It would never work, for— gods, for so many reasons. Surely you can’t need me to list them out.”

Lacy was quiet for a few moments, studying Sera, then turning to me, watching me carefully, then back to Sera. 

“I only see one, and that’s your unwillingness to give me a chance to prove I’ve grown and I’m not a child anymore,” Lacy said, the quiet in her voice not hesitation, but determination. My proud, impossibly strong mate was readying herself for a battle, and I could only watch in awe as she took up her sword to fight for our mate. “The chance to prove to you that I’ve loved you since I knew what it meant to love, and I’ve never stopped. The chance to maybe someday earn your love in return. That, Sera, is the only obstacle I see.”

Sera’s breath caught, her eyes widening as she finally turned to stare at the woman who still leaned back against the railing of the balcony. Her fingers clenched in her skirts, she shook her head, tears filling her eyes but not quite falling. She bit her lip, as if to hold back a sob, and when she couldn’t hold Lacy’s stare any longer, she bodily turned away, her back to the both of us as she gathered herself. 

“I’ve loved Sera since I was eleven-years-old,” Lacy said, and I turned and realized her words were directed at me. I met her eyes, ready for whatever she had decided in the hours since I’d told her she was meant to be mine. 

“That same day, I came to the utter truth about myself that I am wholly incapable of being attracted, romantically or physically, to a man.”

I nodded, unbothered. Mates were attracted to each other, gender be damned, but sometimes it took longer for our human mates to grasp that. Even if I wasn’t a woman, I was hers, just as she was mine. Fate had deemed it so. 

“But I’ve been thinking,” she continued, her eyes amused as she looked me up and down, and I shivered as her gaze left a near-physical presence behind. “And I think, if I was ever to find a man sexually attractive, it would be one who looks like you.”

I smirked and Lacy chuckled, rolling her eyes. “Gods, you’re all the same,” she said, shaking her head. “Cocky bastards, the lot of you.”

“The gods made us equals in every way, Lacy,” I said with a smirk. “Meaning if I’m attractive, you and Sera are my match in that as well as everything else.”

“How does that work, then,” Lacy began, her eyes sparking with inquisitive curiosity. “You and Sera both have magic, I’m powerless, and yet we’re equals.”

“I’d hardly call you powerless, mate,” I replied with a snort. “Within half a decade, you’ll have an empire at your feet. That’s a kind of magic right there. Sera and I, we’re meant to be your foundations. The pillars that bolster—“

“— How can you even be entertaining this?” Sera cut in, her lip quivering as she turned back to us and glared us both down. “Do you really think the Empire will just accept an Empress who has two spouses? Some of them still barely tolerate Cain, and they only don’t like him because he’s a man, and a mage! You’re going to be up against enough, being the first Empress of We’ren, without a woman for a spouse, or gods help you, a woman _and_ a mage!”

“I do. I think they’ll accept it, because not only will I give them no choice, but it’s none of their godsdamned business whom I love.”

“You’re smarter than that,” Sera bit out, her words taking on an almost cruel twinge. “You can’t just believe the world is going to line up for you that way. It doesn’t work like that.”

Lacy studied Sera, looking her up and down, then shook her head and rolled her shoulders. 

“We’re getting nowhere tonight, and I’m being rude to Lhiam and Edon, who planned this party on exceptionally short notice for me. Come, both of you. We can be friends tonight, then we’ll talk more of our future tomorrow. We’ll have a picnic, the three of us.”

“And I suppose I get no say in whether I go to the picnic or not?”

“No, you don’t,” Lacy answered Sera with a tilt of her chin. “Your future Empress commands it. Now come.”


	11. Meant to Be

SERA— 

I knew what she was doing. I wasn’t stupid. Lacy touched me often, then Galen, flirting and openly affectionate with us both. She was proving to me, in her stubborn, mule-headed way, that her people would accept not only me, but Galen as well, as her partners. 

I wondered at her conviction. At her easy acceptance of something I was still trying to wrap my head around. But the more I thought of it, the more I shrugged it off. It was Lacy. She knew what she wanted, she got her way, or the gods help whatever she had to destroy to do so. 

And she’d wanted me for nearly a decade. 

I wondered, though, at where Galen fit into her equation. She had accepted him far too easily, I thought, and I could see Galen had second thoughts about her actions as well. Just a few glimpses of hesitation when he’d laugh at a joke she spouted. An extra second it took him to take her hand when she asked him to dance. A moment of quiet when she asked him a question about his homeland. 

He sensed something wrong in her acceptance of him as well but, I thought, he was too happy to have the both of us there with him to cause any trouble and ruin what he had. 

Even if it wasn’t wholly what he wanted or needed. 

Galen stayed near me throughout the night, except for the few times Lacy led him away to dance. I refused to dance with her, though she asked me thrice. 

“I’m not feeling well, your highness,” I told her, the half-lie rolling off my tongue like a bitter tonic. “I’m not up for a dance.”

Lacy’s eyes on mine never faltered, but she didn’t push. She only led Galen away, again, and I watched on as they moved around the dance floor as if they were made to stand in each other’s arms. 

LACY—

Sera refused when I asked her to dance, but Galen was more than happy to take my hand and lead me out onto the floor. The moment his hand touched mine for the first time, I nearly bit my tongue at the sensation of heat that lit my body from within. His big, rough hand held mine so gently I should have barely felt the touch. But gods, I felt it like a brand on my skin. 

I followed him out onto the floor, my eyes never leaving the side of his face, where I could see he smiled gently, his eyes bright and sparkling with something I couldn’t place. The candlelight danced along his dark skin, making it seem to glow as he moved beneath the chandeliers and candelabra around the great room. 

“Your highness,” he said, his accented, deep voice breaking through the fog of my mind and forcing me to stare up, up— gods he was tall— into his eyes. 

Galen held his arms out, and I stepped into them, fiercely holding back a shiver as one of his hands lowered to clutch my hip, the other weaving my fingers between his own. He began to dance, his gait as smooth, thought-out, and careful as everything he did seemed to be. He moved, always, as if he were in a dance with an invisible partner, so it was no wonder that now he led me so gracefully around the floor. 

“Our mate looks beautiful tonight, doesn’t she?”

I nodded, keeping my eyes on the dancers around us rather than on him, or on Sera. I could practically feel her gaze on the two of us, but I refused to look back at her. 

“She’s been hurt, mate,” Galen whispered. I nearly jerked away when I realized how close he’d pulled himself to me. When I felt how hot his breath felt against the tip of my ear. “We’ll need patience.”

I nodded again, and couldn’t hold back the shiver that ran down my spine, making me shudder. I wasn’t used to this— to being on the receiving end of a seduction, to being in the arms of a man, and I was wholly unprepared and confused by my reactions to Galen. 

The big man pulled away, something like pain flashing in his eyes, before he turned his eyes away and they seemed to darken just a little. 

“I understand, Lacy,” he said, his hand in mine squeezing just a little, as if in reassurance. 

“Understand?” I asked with a frown. 

“You’ve accepted me as a third, only as a way to get near to Sera. I understand that. You don’t need to pretend with me. Not when it’s just the two of us.”

“I’m… I’m sorry,” I whispered in horror, shocked he’d seen through me so easily, and was so calm about something that would make any other man angry. 

“What are you apologizing for?” he asked, genuine confusion on his face as he finally turned back to meet my eyes again. I looked into the depths of his eyes for a few moments before replying, trying to find the answer to his calm, easy acceptance of my selfishly using him for another woman. 

I’d made the decision in the quiet after Cain and Edon told me about the mate bond between the three of us. The decision to accept it, even if it meant sharing Sera with a man I could never love or even really be attracted to. Because being with her like that was oh, so much better than not being with her at all. Somehow, I’d not taken into account the human— or, in this case, the wild mage— aspect of such a farce. I hadn’t truly seen Galen as anything more than a piece in a game. And now, I saw the flaw in that. I could potentially hurt him very much, because I would never be able to return his affection. 

“For lying to you. Trying to deceive you,” I replied, shaking my head and looking away. I felt shame, enough to make me flinch, but I knew that wouldn’t keep me from my plans. I loved Sera too much to lose her to my conscience. 

“You’ve been touching me and talking to me, flirting with me, and joking with me all night. Goddess, mate, I’d do much to earn that from you. Don’t apologize for any of that.”

Galen nearly laughed with his words, but they had me stiffening even more, the shame and doubt compounding until I wanted to pull away just so his gentle affection wouldn’t be so very close to my skin. 

“It wasn’t real,” I whispered. 

“It was real to me,” he replied with a shrug, pulling away. It wasn’t until then that I realized the song had ended. “I knew you didn’t mean it as anything,” he finished, flashing a smile as he bent to kiss my hand, his lips like heated coal on my skin. “But to me, it was attention from one of my mates. I’ll never look on that as anything but a blessing.”

He turned away, and I watched in something like shock as he moved in that fluid, heavy-footed way, towards the ballroom doors. I jerked myself out of my surprise just as his back disappeared through the doorway. 

I nearly leapt forward, ignoring the man— I wasn’t even sure who it was— that had moved towards me as if to ask me to dance. I shoved through the doors, following after Galen, and found him leaning back against the wall just outside the doors. He watched me with something like smug satisfaction in his eyes, making my heart leap into my throat as his lips rose into a sweet smile. 

The hall was dark, the sounds and light behind me dying out as I walked up to Galen and glared up at him. 

“You knew I’d follow you,” I accused. 

He snorted and rolled his shoulders. “I guessed.”

“I want Sera. I’ve been in love with her for a long time.”

“I know,” he replied. 

“And you’re alright, me using you to get to her? Knowing I have no interest in you?”

He was quiet for a few moments, his plump lips between his teeth as he seemed to find his words. Then, “You’re my mate, Lacy. Non-mages don’t understand that fully, I know that. As your mate, I’m here for you— lover or no. 

“But no, I have no problem with you using me. It’s what I’m here for— to be used by both you and Sera, however you see fit. Sera is going to take a lot of work to convince; to help her to heal and to accept us. Together, we may have a chance with her. And if I can only love you while you love Sera? If I can be by your side even that much, it’s enough for me.”

Galen pulled himself up from the wall and turned back to the ballroom, his expression closed off, but not angry. Something quiet and sad, but barely recognizable past the wall he’d made to close me out. 

“I escorted Sera in, so I don’t want to leave her alone. But I’m exhausted— it’s been a bloody long day— so I’m going to go see if I can convince her to—”

I could only claim temporary insanity. Or maybe I was possessed for a minute. But there was just… There was something about Galen’s calm. His sweet words and his care of Sera. His gentle voice and the touch of his skin against mine as we danced. His huge hands nearly covering my entire hips and back, and the way his dark complexion contrasted so attractively with my own pale expanse of skin. Something forced me forward, until I had fingers hooked in the hair at the back of his scalp and he was bent nearly in half, his lips pressed against mine. 

GALEN—

It took every bit of self-control I possessed to shove my bear back as Lacy’s tiny fingers dug into my scalp, dragging my lips down to hers. Her mouth was wet and warm, and she tasted like wine and heat and mate and power. 

She tasted like home. Like home and woman and desire and just a little like sugar. 

I clenched my fingers into fists, terrified that if I made any kind of move, I’d scare her off. So I held still, letting her lips and tongue explore my own. 

Her tongue darted out, pressing against the seam of my mouth. I fought the urge to kneel so I wouldn’t be contorted unnaturally, but I easily ignored the discomfort in my back as I opened my mouth and she took full control of it. Tasting my tongue, my teeth, then nibbling on my bottom lip. 

I wasn’t sure whether to be proud of how skillful she was as a kisser, or to hunt down all of the women she must have practiced on. 

She pulled away, her small chest heaving, then met my gaze with astonishment clear in her own. 

“I…” she began, and I smiled, finally letting my hands come up to gently brush the curls that had fallen into her eyes away from her face. I nearly crowed when her entire body shook in a full-body shiver at the touch of my skin against hers. 

“Wow, that mate bond is… strong, isn’t it?” she whispered, her eyes searching mine as she licked her lips, making me want to bite them. 

“It supersedes any mortal attraction or misgivings.”

“Meaning my solitary attraction to women—”

“— Matters not in the least,” I finished for her, and Lacy shook her head and groaned. “You are mine. I am yours. We were made to love and protect and be with each other. You’ll never feel attraction like you will with me and Sera.”

“Cain is going to give me so much shit,” she groaned, ducking her head and pressing her forehead to my chest. I chuckled and shook my head, finally allowing myself the touch I had been forcing away, laying my hand on the back of her head to press her against me. I took a deep breath of her scent. Of _mate_ and _right_ and _mine_, of sugar and parchment and ink. Of all the things that made up my tiny mate.


	12. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ***** TRIGGER WARNING: rape and gender dysphoria. If either trigger you, you can skip over the italicized part. It gets kind of intense, so just a head's up. *****

SERA—

_“Please, Grayson, please. It hurts. Just go slower, ah, please,” I whimpered, tears blurring my vision so much I couldn’t even make out the design of the quilted blanket clenched in my fists, just inches from my face. _

_Emma had made me that blanket, given it to me for my sixteenth birthday, just a few months before. A few months before I decided to give my everything to the man I loved. _

_The man I’d begun to think of as my future husband, if only he could accept his own feelings and choose me over his reputation and his pride. But I knew he’d make the choice eventually. Someday, we’d no longer have to hide. We’d be free to be together, away from shame, away from hiding our love. I’d tell Papa Grayson was to be my husband, and eventually, Papa would allow it. Just as he’d eventually stop pestering me about my dresses, my makeup, my hair. _

_“Fuck, you’re tight,” Grayson grunted, his words harsh against my back as he shoved himself in deeper, completely ignoring my words and making me cry out in pain. Something dripped down the back of my thigh and my heart stuttered as I began to fear that he was truly harming something inside of me. _

_“Gray—” I began, but Grayson’s big palm came up to cover my mouth. I grunted in surprised pain as his fingernails dug into my cheeks. _

_“You’re so pretty, and then you open your godsdamned mouth, and you ruin the illusion. Stay quiet, little boy.”_

_I hated when he called me that. He knew I did— I’d told him over and over— but he loved it. He liked what it did to me. How it made me react. _

_“I’m… I’m sorry, Gray,” I whimpered, my words wholly muffled by his palm as his thrusts inside my body began to grow frantic. _

_“Shut up,” he growled, hiking my skirts up to grab my hips as he finished inside me with a satisfied sigh. My soft penis didn’t even twitch as Grayson pulled his cock out of my body and chuckled softly. “Look at you. You are a little woman— virginity blood and all.”_

_I flinched and sat up, reaching back to try to maybe see how much damage had been done. Grayson stood, dressing quickly since he’d only pulled his shirt off and untied his trousers to fuck me. _

_“I’ll come again tomorrow night. Open yourself up beforehand, would you? I don’t want blood on my dick again. It’s fucking nasty.” _

_I nodded dumbly, then jerked and sat up straighter to stare up at him. The pain that lanced through me with my sudden move had me flinching and wanting to lie back against the blankets, take my weight off of my ass. Tears heated my eyes but refused to fall in the numb, nearly placid state I was in. My entire body hurt, but the pain in my ass and deep inside my stomach, terrifying me that he had torn something inside as well as against the rim of my hole, had me wanting to curl up in a ball and never move again. _

_“You’re leaving?”_

_His laughter was cruel, his eyes dancing with derision as he glared me down. “You think I’m gonna sleep in here? It smells like sex and blood. And like you. Fuck no, I’ll sleep in my own bed.”_

_“Gray,” I began, my chest tightening as tears threatened in my already swollen, wet eyes. “Please, I want—” _

_“Ugh, if I wanted someone who cried, I’d fuck a real woman.”_

_I hiccuped and shook my head, trying to hold back more tears. Gods I just wanted him to stay. I wanted to fall to sleep in his arms. I wanted to feel his arms around me— wanted to know he loved me like I loved him. _

_“When… when can we tell Papa? When can we—”_

_Without any warning, Grayson’s big body was on top of mine, pinning me to my bed with rage and something far too close to hate in his eyes. He pressed his knees painfully into my sides, his fingers digging into my wrists so hard I knew they’d pull up bruises. _

_“You tell_ anyone,” _he hissed, right up against my face, spittle hitting my skin as I stared up at the man I loved. The man who’d wooed me for nearly three years before, just tonight, I’d finally given him my body and my heart. The man who now watched me as if I was something filthy he’d just found in his shit_. “Anyone, _you filthy whore, and I’ll kill you. Do you understand me?”_

_I cried out, my entire body shaking as I shook my head. Sobs choked me, and I couldn’t reply as Grayson began to press himself harder against me. _

_“No you don’t understand, or no you won’t listen to me? You damn fucked in the head little _bitch_!” _

_I cried out as his fist dug itself into my ribs, and my breath left me in a rush. _

_Grayson’s cock, still loose outside his trousers, began to harden against my belly and I righted myself from his blow just in time to see him smile, the spark in his eyes as near to evil as I’d ever imagined a human could show. _

_“I guess I’ll have to teach you a lesson on what your place in this relationship of ours is,” he bit out, and I screamed as he flipped me over and yanked my skirts up violently. _

_“You like this, little boy?” he grunted against my ear, his words muffled by my skirts. “You like it rough like this? You like me making you bleed, little—”_

“— ra! Sera, godsdamnit, open this godsdamn door! Sera! I’ll break it down, if you don’t— ! Open—”

My throat ached, my head pounding, my muscles spasming as if I’d had them clenched so tightly I’d strained them. I jerked upright in my bed, throwing the blankets off as my chest heaved. 

“_You never forget your first, you know_,” Grayson’s voice echoed in my mind, mocking and filled with hatred and laughter. 

“No,” I moaned, shoving my face into the palms of my hands as a cold sweat broke out across my skin. 

Over a decade and his voice was in my mind, guiding me, mocking me, _hating_ me, as much now as it had been when he’d been right by my side. 

I’d begged. I’d pleaded. I’d screamed and cried. Everything muffled by his fists and my own skirts, shoved up and over my head as I fought against the man who’d taken every bit of me and torn it to shreds. My heart. My body. My trust. My soul. 

He broke me, if I’d even been whole before he got ahold of me. That night, for hours, he taught me that no one could be trusted. Especially when my heart was involved. 

“Sera, please, mate, please open the door. _Please_,” the voice that had woken me pleaded, sounding desperate and frantic. Galen’s deep, husky voice was pressed right up against the door, what sounded like they could be his claws scratching against the wood. 

I fell out of my bed with a loud _thump!_, my feet tangling in my blankets, and pushed myself towards the door. It wasn’t until I yanked the door open and Galen’s pitch-black, furious eyes met mine that I realized I was barely covered. I wore a thin, transparent slip that reached just above my knees. My breasts were unbound, my nipples hard and dark, pushing out against the flimsy fabric that only just covered me. 

Galen pushed past me, barely paying any attention to my lack of dress, and paced the length of my room. He sniffed the air, and I realized he was almost half-shifted. He stood a head taller, his face was lengthened and broader than normal, and his hands were hooked into deadly-looking claws. 

“Who’s Grayson?” he growled, and I flinched at the name. Galen turned to me, his eyes flashing as he looked me up and down. Just realizing, I think, how very little I wore. I moved to the bed, dragging my blankets up to my chest, and shook my head. I could feel my face heat with a deep blush, but I refused to give in to the look on his face. 

“It’s n-no one… nothing. Wh-why are you here?”

“Felt you,” he grumbled, his dark eyes settling on me, burning into my skin. I wanted to scratch at my arms, push at the darkness that was only just awakening in my chest. Threatening to devour me whole. But I couldn’t give in. Not yet. I had to get Galen out first. I wouldn’t let him see me like that. Never like that. 

Galen’s clawed hands came up to his chest, clutching at the shirt that looked ready to burst at the seams as he towered above me. He pressed his palm on the left side of his rib cage, as if trying to hold back something that may escape past his fingers. 

“You dreamt of him? There was no one in the room?”

I flinched again but nodded. “Yes, so please leave. There’s no danger. It was just a dream.”

“He hurt you?”

I shuddered and shook my head, trying desperately to push the fear and bile back down my throat. 

“_You like this, little boy?_” 

“Please, Galen, I need to try to get some—”

“Tell me who he is, mate, and I’ll—”

“No!” I yelled, stomping my foot like a spoiled child. “Galen, go away. I need—”

“Is something wrong?” a quiet but firm voice asked from behind me and I flinched and held back a frustrated groan. 

“Fuck,” I whispered, turning to Lacy. She stood in my doorway, her curls a mess of gold atop her head, her face flushed with sleep. I had to fight not to move towards her and cover her, since she wore less than I did: a dark tunic hanging open in the middle, showing off most of her full breasts, and all of her soft belly. A pair of men’s undergarments that hung just below her ass, leaving her short, thick legs on display as she cocked her head and stared me down with concern. 

A small, black wolf at her feet had me wanting to cry even more than I already did. Gods, Prince Lhiam would know about this by morning. 

“Nothing’s wrong, your highness,” I replied, just barely holding back the urge to curtsy. “I just had a nightmare, that’s all.” 

I knew my shaking body and quivering lip proved the lie my words were, but Lacy either didn’t notice or chose to ignore my terror as she looked around the room, her eyes flitting over Galen, my rumpled bed, then back to me. 

“It woke me,” Lacy replied with a small step forward, her tiny feet looking so white and delicate on the stone ground I wanted to lift her up on my bed so she’d not have to brave the freezing cold of the stone. “So it was more than just a nightmare.”

“It… woke you?” I asked with confusion. 

“We’re linked now. Or so I’m told,” Lacy replied, with just one more step inside. “I woke terrified. Was it a nightmare, or a memory?”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m sorry I woke you both, but please—”

“— Edon, I’m safe here. Give me and my mates privacy please.”

I nearly rolled my eyes at Lacy’s words, but Edon was quick to huff quietly in agreement and patter back out of my room and down the hall. 

“I know you may not want to talk about it, but I—”

“— No, I don’t. I don’t want to—”

“— But,” Lacy finished, as if I hadn’t said a word, “I’ve been having nightmares all night as well, and I don’t want to be alone right now. May I stay?”

I froze, my heart hammering in my head as I stared the woman down. I’d never seen Lacy show weakness. Even as a child, she was self-assured, arrogant almost, and never looked more than wholly sure of herself and where she stood. Now, I truly studied her for the first time that night, and saw what I’d not let myself notice before. She _was_ scared. Something she’d seen in her nightmares. Something she’d felt. Something had happened to throw her, and she was seeking me out— both me and Galen— for comfort. 

My heart and soul begged me to push them both out of my room. Letting them in would only lead to pain and betrayal. And I knew— I _knew_— I wouldn’t survive it again. 

But the healer inside me wouldn’t— _couldn’t_— let someone hurting walk away. So I could only nod and silently move back towards my bed, slumping against the dozens of pillows as Galen and Lacy began to break through my barriers, one-by-one.


	13. Dreams and Legends

SERA—

Lacy said not a word, only followed me to my bed. She sat at the end, curling up near the foot, and laid her petite, round face on her small hands and stared up at me. 

I looked over and watched Galen pull himself from his shift as he calmed from his fear. He studied me, then Lacy before he shuffled over and sat on the chair just to the side of my bed. 

“Do you remember, when I was a child, and you would tell me stories? You’d tell me of Aura and Eses; of Niamh the first hedge witch. Of Alma and her creations, and the Sky God’s betrayal?”

“What did you have a nightmare of?” I asked, too afraid to allow myself to remember the past. To remember how Lacy’s eyes had lit with fascination and wonder as I’d regaled her with story after story of the gods. Of monsters and heroes, great loves and even greater losses. Of things that were, and things that I wished could be. 

She paused for only a moment before she replied with a sigh. 

“Do you remember, when Edon had only been in the keep for a few months, and he and I got kidnapped? We were held by men, and they wanted to— they almost—”

“I remember,” I whispered when Lacy seemed unable to finish. “Gerard and I had to make Edon sleeping tonics for months afterwards, once he finally came home. I had to keep it a secret I was helping him, because only Gerard and Cain knew I was a hedge witch at the time. Papa didn’t like people to know, since it’s typically a woman's profession and a woman’s magic.”

“Lhiam and his men came just at the right time. Even a minute later…” Lacy shook her head and turned, twisting her body so she was staring up at the ceiling. The tunic she wore, tied by a couple of loose bands, barely covered her breasts, and I had to close my eyes so I wouldn’t be tempted by the sight. Her belly rose and fell, bare and taunting me with its supple, creamy surface. “That’s what I dream of— if Lhiam had come too late and I’d had to sit and listen to Edon being violently raped. And then when the man is finished with him, he comes over and does the same to me.”

Galen made a soft noise, something between a growl and a sob, and Lacy’s lips rose into a self-deprecating smile. 

“Eh, I’ll live. They’re only dreams.”

Lacy held her fingers up and made a gesture towards Galen and, without hesitation, he followed her order. Before I knew what was happening, his huge form lay at my feet, jostling the bed to lay opposite with Lacy, his head twisted to rest against her stomach as he watched me. 

I stared in something like fascination as her fingers found their way to his thick hair and she began to gently, with only the slightest bit of hesitation, stroke her fingers through his coarse strands. 

“I dream of death and blood,” Galen said, his eyes closed gently as he pushed into Lacy’s touch. Continuing the conversation as if it were the most natural thing in the world, being here with me and with Lacy, talking about dreams. “There was war between Akar and her neighbor El’kahr. My cousin Geir was chosen as Warlord. I was too young, but I forced Geir to allow me to come along with him and his war party. He agreed, but I wasn’t allowed to fight. I mostly cared for the horses, cleaned, set up the tents. I helped where I could.” 

Galen sighed, took a deep breath, and I could see his fingers clutching at the edges of my blankets as he opened his mouth to finish his story. His nightmare. 

“But there was one battle. It was a keep near their capital. Geir was injured, and he wasn’t there to tell me no. We were losing. I couldn’t allow that, so I shifted into my bear and I joined the battle. I… We won. Geir was very angry with me when he woke. I didn’t sleep for nearly two weeks without seeing the blood and the bodies of the men I’d slaughtered. I have the dreams still, sometimes.”

Lacy’s fingers in his hair remained steady, but my heartbeat pounded in my ears at his pain. I could feel it— feel the way his grief and horror made his belly clench and his chest tight. 

“Being chosen as Warlord— that’s a great honor for your cousin, isn’t it?” Lacy asked. 

I watched in near fascination as Galen’s body seemed to melt into Lacy’s at the question, a tiny smile on his face. I looked up at her, but her attention was on the man nearly purring in her lap and across her belly. Did she know her words would help chase away the nightmares he’d spoken of, or was she as oblivious as she seemed?

“It is. He is Chief of the Moonstone Tribe now. We defeated the El’kahrians within two years and returned home triumphant with the king’s son as Warprize for Geir.”

“Warprize?” Lacy asked, her brow furrowed. “I’ve never read about that.”

“A Warprize is a gift given from the defeated people to the victorious. A person of high standing, sent to join the Akaran people, become one of them, in a gesture of forgiveness and future peace.”

“Like a marriage?”

“Kind of. The Warlord and Warprize generally mate, though not always. But it’s more about them joining Akar— becoming Akaran, to prove that the defeated peoples are now seen as friends and as family by the Akarans.”

“What did the king’s son think of that?” I couldn’t help but ask, my own past forcing me to see past Galen’s pretty words to the man who had been forced to service a man he didn’t know, for the peace and safety of his people. 

“Amer… didn’t understand at first. His father was a terrible man, and his people are slavers. Akarans don’t have a word for slavery, but El’kahr thrives off of its evil. He thought he was being sent as a slave to Geir. His father convinced him of it. It took time and patience, but my cousin showed him differently. They are now happily mated and very much in love. The last letter I got from them, they’d taken in their third child, a little girl they named after my father. I wish to visit soon and meet her. Amer gushes over her in his letter.”

“You miss them.”

Lacy’s words weren’t a question, only a statement of pure truth. But Galen nodded anyways with a small, almost self-deprecating smile. 

“I knew that I’d have two foreign mates since I was a child. For nearly as long as I can remember, I itched to leave Akar and seek you out. It wasn’t until I left that I realized how lucky I’d been in my friends and my family.”

LACY—

“Marlin was the eldest of Ravin’s children,” Sera whispered, “born of her desire to protect the creatures she created and loved.”

I fought the urge to stare up at Sera as her quiet, soft voice cut through the empty air that Galen’s had left between the three of us. I kept my eyes up, my breathing steady. But I could feel that both Galen and I tensed a little, frozen with excitement and intent focus on Sera and her husky, sultry voice as she told a story she knew I loved. As she opened her mouth to do what she was born to do: bring peace to those hurting. 

I knew she had only decided to talk because she sensed Galen’s sadness. His homesickness. And she couldn’t bear to feel his pain and not try to soothe it in the only way she was able at the moment. 

“She crafted him of the greatest predators she’d created in all of Nefiir: the great white bears of the northern tundras. She approached the fiercest of those, a great mother with two cubs, born only days before. And she asked the mother for one of her sons, promising her that he would honor his mother and make her proud. He would protect her and all those of her kind, and the other beasts of the world. And the great white northern bear mother agreed, giving up her eldest son to the goddess. 

“The goddess took the bear, and breathed sentience and intelligence into his lungs. She gave him a piece of her soul— the sliver between her ribs, just above her heart— and fed him magic for each of his meals. His milk was god-honey and his toys were sacred objects of power and wisdom. 

“When he was old enough, she taught him battle: as a man and as a beast. She taught him the many forms her magic had given him, and gave him the power of a blood son of a goddess. And when he was full-grown; when his heart ached as he watched his younger siblings, none of whom he’d been matched with in matehood, as some of them had been, the goddess gave him hope in the form of a prophecy. 

“‘My son,’ she told him. ‘It is not your destiny to be matched to another for many years. But when you find him, the long wait will be worth it. He will be wise and fierce; lovely and stubborn and your perfect match in every way. He will come to you in a time that he needs you the most, and only then will you be rewarded for your loyalty and service to me.’”

Sera’s words died out as she finished the story, leaving both me and Galen nearly entranced. I’d almost forgotten how Sera’s voice was able to capture my attention— what seemed like my whole soul caught up in her words as she wove her stories into tapestries of images I could see almost perfectly behind my mind’s eye. 

“I’ve heard that story many-a-time,” Galen husked, his hands clenching and unclenching against his stomach as he stared up at Sera. “But never before like that. Thank you, Sera.”

Sera nodded hesitantly, her cheeks heating with embarrassment as she looked down and away.

The room was silent for a few moments, only the sounds of our breathing heavy in the air. I basked in the quiet, my mind calming with the presence of the two people I was beginning to understand may actually be my future. 

I’d never wanted a man. Since before I knew what attraction and romance and lust were, I’d known I was different than the others around me. I’d felt it somewhere deep. Somewhere only I felt, saw, knew within my core that it existed. I was different from the couples around me. Different from my cousin and the men and women he surrounded himself with. 

And then I met a girl I couldn’t take my eyes off of, and I knew. I was different. But I wasn’t alone. There were others out there like me— those that didn’t quite fit into the man-woman relationships I’d always known. Those who were born, like me, to forge their own path and love who they chose to love, normalcy be damned 

And yet now I lay on Sera’s bed— Sera, that girl so long ago that opened my eyes and made me _sure_, with every breath, that I could only look upon feminine beauty for a partner. I lay on her bed and held the head of a man double my size against my stomach, his heavy breaths deepening as I ran my fingers through his short-cropped hair. This man— wholly male and without a hint of femininity in his bearing, body, or soul— was somehow… alluring?

Why? Why was his weight against me so right? Why was his heat against my own a balm on my soul? Why was his presence alone comforting and calming, after the tumultuous day I was only just trying to leave behind?

“He’s sleeping deep as a child,” Sera whispered. I looked up, jerked out of my reverie, and held back a chuckle when my eyes followed Sera’s gaze to Galen. He was indeed asleep, his long, dark lashes brushing delicately against his round cheeks, his full lips pursed and open just enough for his breaths to whistle softly in the space between. 

“It’s been a long day,” I replied, leaning my head back and closing my eyes. My fingers kept up their ministrations against Galen’s head, the movement somehow soothing to me, as well as him, I assumed, with how quickly he fell asleep. 

“Lacy, you should both—” 

“— Sera, let us stay. Please. It’s been a hell of a day, and I don’t want to spend the night alone. Please.”

In a single day, I’d returned to a home I hadn’t seen in over half a decade, faced down Lhiam and informed him of the decision I’d made without him, to give up his throne for another, and discovered that I was a wild mage’s fated mate. One of two. And the other was the woman I’d been in love with since I was a child. The one who’d rejected me repeatedly, and who I’d still do anything to be with. 

It had been a _hell_ of a day. And the idea of returning to my own chambers alone, to my cold, too-big bed— gods, that was just something I couldn’t do. 

Sera was quiet, her eyes on the stretch of moonlight that shone through the small window that led out into her little courtyard garden. She didn’t reply, but I could sense when she gave in, because her shoulders drooped just a bit, and her eyes drifted shut for only a moment before they were back on me. 

“Sleep, Lacy,” she whispered, her voice harsh as if with disuse. “I’ll watch over you both.”


	14. Fate and Destiny

LACY— 

I spent the majority of my day in meetings with Lhiam and his advisors. When I’d left years before, Lhiam had replaced me on his council with another woman— Countess Yerem— and just a few years ago, I was told, he’d had to replace Lady Sera as well. Her duties as hedge witch had begun to take up much of her time, and she’d happily given the political position up. The move away from the council position had angered her father because it was, Lhiam told me, the only good thing the man had seen about his daughter moving to Teren Keep. 

Galen and I had woken in a tangled heap on Sera’s bed, and I’d blushed annoyingly— gods, I was like a childish virgin— when his morning hardness pressed up against my thigh as he stretched and smiled goofily up at me. 

“Our mate left us early this morning,” he said on a yawn. I turned away when his stretching dragged his tunic and shirt up over his stomach, revealing his hard, muscled abs and the trail of dark hair that led from just below his belly button to where his trousers covered his groin. 

“I figured she might,” I replied, rushing to move off of the bed and away from Galen’s distracting heat. 

“She left us something,” he said, amusement clear in his voice. 

I turned, a smile breaking across my own face when I spotted a dozen packets of tea. 

A little note, in Sera’s neat, tiny scrawl, lay propped against the packets. I moved closer and chuckled as I read. 

“_Dreamless Sleep Tea— mix one packet with one cup of boiling water an hour before bedtime. Do not drink more than one cup a day.”_

Galen blushed and chuckled when I read the words aloud.

“Our mate’s not one for romantics, is she?”

“Eh, she’s looking after us. I’ll take it,” I replied with a shrug, making Galen laugh. 

“I like your optimism,” he said amid his laughter. 

Galen walked me to Lhiam’s council chambers and left me there with the gentlest kiss to my cheek, barely brushing the edge of my lip. I closed my eyes and leaned into the touch, my body, soul, and mind still at war over the way I felt when Galen touched me. Or was even near me. 

The brush of his stubble was definitely new and different, as was the heat of his skin against mine. He was like a hearth on a cold winter’s night, and his smell brought to mind eucalyptus and a roaring campfire. 

I watched Galen’s back for far longer than I should have as he disappeared down the hall, and it took Tate bumping into me on his way out of the chambers— likely to come looking for me— for me to gather my thoughts and join my cousin and his council. 

GALEN—

I found Sera easily enough once I’d left Lacy with her duties; she hadn’t strayed far. Her knees were dirty with the soft soil, her long, gorgeously quaffed hair swept up on the top of her head in a messy kind of pile that looked as if she had simply thrown it up to get it out of her way. She knelt in her herb garden, just outside of her chambers. The place I’d first seen her just the day before. 

Gods, it felt like a lifetime since then and it hadn’t even been a full twenty-four hours. 

“Good morning, mate,” I said quietly, not wanting to startle her. She glanced up and the edges of her lips twitched, but she fought back the smile. 

Sami lay near Sera, lying in his bobcat form in a little patch of grass. He panted in the heat of the growing sunlight, his eyes closed, his head lifted to the sky to better feel the sun’s rays on his face. My bear grumbled, immediately wanting to join him, but I pushed him back. I didn’t know how my mates would handle my bear yet, and I didn’t want to frighten Sera when she’d only just met me. 

“Good morning, Ambassador Galen.”

“Goddess, Sera, please don’t call me that,” I grumbled, all but whining as I moved to crouch beside her. “Galen. My name is Galen.”

Something flashed across her eyes, but it was too quick for me to catch it, so I turned away and lifted my own face to the rising sun. 

“It’s going to be a beautiful day. Do you plan to spend it out here, like this?”

“I’ll likely go inside once it gets warmer, mix some poultices. Then later, I have a woman in town who’s coming up on her labor time. I’ll need to check on her.”

Sera frowned, her lips twisting almost wryly, as if she hadn’t meant to say as much as she had. I chuckled and sat back on my heels. 

“Can I assist?” I asked, waving my hand at the plants and soil around her.

Sera’s eyes flickered to Sami, who’d barely moved except for his breaths even when I’d first come up. 

“I typically have Sami to help, but he’s being particularly lazy today,” Sera began, pausing when Sami began to purr so loudly his entire body vibrated. 

“_Cats,_” I muttered in Akari as I rolled my eyes, making Sami prop one eye to glare at me, before closing it again and continuing his noisy resting. 

“But yes, I’d love your help. There is a wheelbarrow near the barn on the other side of the keep. Can you bring it here?”

When I brought the wheelbarrow, filled with horse manure and hay, Sera directed me to the side of her small garden, then went back to tending her garden. I couldn’t tell if she was ignoring me on purpose, or if she was genuinely so entrenched in her work that I wasn’t even something she noticed in her periphery. 

I waited an hour or so, my back against the stone wall of the keep’s castle, my eyes never straying from Sera’s graceful movements. I kept my ears out for our other mate, unsure when Lacy would be done with her royal duties and be able to spend time with us. I knew our mating was unexpected for my human mates, but I’d been waiting my entire life to meet them, and I was eager to learn everything I possibly could about the two women I’d spend the rest of my life with. 

Just as I opened my mouth to offer Sera my help again, a feminine voice drew my attention up to the side of the keep. A tall, broad-shouldered woman stepped around the castle wall, coming from the direction of the main entrance. 

“Sera, Sami, good morning!” the woman called, waving as she moved towards Sera in great, loping steps. 

The woman smelled so strongly of wild magic, I began to scent for her animal, but there was none. 

A wild hedge witch. I hadn’t met one in years— since I’d left my home behind to follow Geir into battle. I’d no idea they were born outside of Akar. 

Sera returned the woman’s wave and greeting, calling her Silvia, just as the woman caught sight of me and froze. 

“Gods, another one?” she muttered, and Sera huffed out a half-hearted laugh. 

“Mistress Silvia, meet Ambassador Galen of Akar. Ambassador Galen, this is Mistress Silvia, wild hedge witch for Teren.”

“And, let's be honest, most of We’ren. It’s nice to meet you, bear. You’re not feral too, are you? Not gonna bite my fingers off if I get too close to Sera?”

“I might, but not because I’m feral,” I replied, and Silvia laughed heartily. 

“I did not bite your fingers,” Sami grumbled from behind Sera. Silvia and I turned at the same time to a naked Sami, glaring the tall woman down. 

“No. But you nearly took my wife's face off, you little psycho. Don’t act offended that you didn’t actually bite my fingers.”

“She tried to touch me, mistress,” he muttered, cocking his hip as he crossed his arms over his chest and stared Silvia down. 

“Here, Sami,” Sera said gently, her words nearly a whisper as she moved towards him, a pile of cloth in her arms. His clothes, I realized when he dropped them to the ground and began to push his legs into the pants. 

“So your mate lives in the keep as well?” I asked, drawing Silvia’s glare back over to me. But at the mention of her mate in a context that wasn’t violent, her face softened and a warm smile touched her lips. 

“Yes. My beautiful Emma. She’s a seamstress— makes most of the royal family’s clothes, especially Prince Edon’s. He has a thing for soft fabrics, and her little fingers work best on the seams that need the most gentle touch.”

“She’s very kind. She smells like wildflowers and honey.” Sami’s voice was almost musing, and his words made Silvia chuckle. 

“You know, since you told her that, she’s been desperately trying to find out why she smells that way. But nothing of her feminine products— her soaps or her lotions, nothing— smells of wildflowers _or_ honey.”

“It’s her soul. Her soul smells of wildflowers and honey. You can tell her to stop searching her soaps,” Sami said almost distractedly, his head raised so his nose stuck into the air. He sniffed, then began to walk towards the west end of the keep, wholly ignoring the people he was conversing with and not saying a single word of goodbye. 

Sera and Silvia exchanged a glance, then turned back to me. Silvia raised an eyebrow and Sera pursed her lips. 

“Is he normal? For a wild mage? We don’t really have a gauge— Edon wasn’t raised by wild mages, and Cain had something of a rocky childhood. Even if he knows, he doesn’t like talking of it. That other bear in Swyer barely admits to eating as he’s eating in front of you, if you know what I mean, so we have no one to ask but you. Is it normal for wild mages to be so…”

“Guilelessly charming?” I supplied, and Silvia nodded, then shook her head as in consternation. 

“I’ve not been around him much,” I said, “but no, he seems very unique. He’s feral— most don’t come back from that. Once a mage has lost themselves to their animal for as long as he seems to have, they never find their human half again. The fact that he did is likely wholly due to him finding his mate.”

“Poor Robert. It took him a _while_ before he accepted Sami. That boy was definitely not in Robert’s life plan for himself, let’s just say that.”

Sera was already blushing heavily when I met her eyes. I smirked, knowing her thoughts went to the same place mine had: Robert hadn’t expected Sami. He hadn’t accepted him at first. 

But Fate won out. No matter how much mortals fought it— Fate and Destiny knew us better than we knew ourselves.


	15. Natural Magic

SERA—

When the bobcat shifter moved back towards us a few hours after he’d left to seek Robert out, Galen visibly shifted towards him, his nostrils flaring. Then he blushed, his eyes widening, and he turned away with a huffing laugh. 

“If you had a pretty mate like my Robert, you’d wanna mate with him any chance you got too,” Sami bit out with a smirk at Galen’s reaction to his arrival. 

“Oh gods,” I whispered, just as Silvia burst into laughter, Galen trying his best to keep his eyes off of me. 

“Gods above, is there no privacy among shifters?” she chuckled, looking from Galen to Sami and back again. 

Galen’s mouth twisted as he fought back laughter. He turned and met my eyes bashfully at Silvia’s words, the message behind his gaze clear. 

Sami’s words were true for Galen as much as for Sami. 

And goddess, but he was getting more difficult to deny. 

And Lacy? Goddess give me strength to continue to turn her down. 

_Why? Why can’t you let them in? You trust Lacy— you’ve known her since you were a child. Since she was even younger. And Galen— he’s nearly as guileless as Sami. _

_Can’t you give them a chance?_

I shoved my inner voice back, frowning and shaking my head to clear it. Refuting the words with only one of my own. 

_Grayson. _

_He was sweet and kind at first too. _

_He broke me. _

_He took everything from me. _

_I _can’t _let that happen again. _

_I _won’t _let that happen again. _

_I’ll die first. _

_They’ll break me further than he ever could have._

I turned away from Galen, and spent the rest of the next hour arguing with Silvia about our approaches to our work. Sami barely paid attention, his bobcat form napping lazily in the sun as it danced through the sky. But Galen’s attention was riveted on us as we discussed herbs, potions, various poultices, and methods of healing injuries. 

“May I ask where you both learned your craft?” Galen asked when there was a lull in my and Silvia’s debate about the uses for lyner leaves. 

GALEN— 

“I was taught by an Akaran wild hedge witch. An awful woman with horrid breath. I taught Sera what I could, and she learned the rest on her own.”

“Wild hedge witches are basically hedge witches with extra knowledge and magic regarding animals,” Sera said, her voice so soft it was almost as if she was whispering. “So Silvia was able to teach me much.”

“And her natural magic took it from there,” Silvia stated, making Sera glare over at her fiercely. As if she had spoken a secret. 

“It is powerful,” I said, sniffing the air towards Sera, scenting the magic that pooled in her gut and wove its way around her heart. “I’ve never met a hedge witch with as much natural magic in their veins as you, Sera.”

Sera flinched, but Silvia only nodded. 

“Yes. You can almost taste it, can’t you? It’s incredible. You know, she can—”

“— I have an appointment with Liza. Would you like to come, Silvia?” Sera bit out, cutting off Silvia’s words and glaring the other woman down. 

Silvia returned Sera’s glower, but quickly turned away from her with a snort. 

“No. Bring your bear. I’ve got a sick horse I have to keep an eye on.”

Sami’s ears perked up, and Silvia chuckled as she shook her head down at him, rolling her eyes. 

“It’s not Horse, you child,” she muttered, turning her back on us and making her way back around the side of the castle without a backwards glance. 

“You don’t have to keep your magic a secret from me, Sera. I can sense its strength. I can smell its potency.”

“I’m not—” she bit out, her eyes everywhere but on me as she stood and dusted off her skirts. “I’m not hiding anything. It’s not a secret. It’s just not something I like to talk about. I don’t know how things are in Akar, but in We’ren, magic can be an unknown. It is often feared and misunderstood. It’s best if I let people believe I’m no different than any of the other hedge witches they’ve come across.”

“I understand,” I said, leaning forward to push myself to my feet. “I’ll not tell a soul. So, where does Liza live? Do we walk, or ride?”

Sami made a soft chuffing noise before rising to his paws and trotting out of the courtyard, towards the western gate out of the keep. 

Sera stared up at me, her long, lean legs not quite matching up to my height, her head tilted back and her eyes squinting from the sun as she watched me with something strange flickering in the shadows of her eyes. 

“Do we follow the cat?” I asked when she didn’t reply, only continued to stare me down. My words seemed to break her out of whatever thoughts had dragged her down, and she nodded. 

“Yes. Sami knows the way.”

LACY—

I didn’t see Sera and Galen until nearly midnight the next night. According to Robert, one of Lhiam’s guards, they got stuck in town helping Liza with her babe. Complications had arisen— “the babe is too big and the hole is too small,” according to a brutally honest Sami, the words followed almost immediately by a growled “dammit Sami,” from Robert— and Sera couldn’t leave the woman’s side. And Galen, of course, wouldn’t leave Sera’s. 

I spent my days and early evenings with Lhiam’s councilors, arguing with Tate about leaving, and trying to fight back the headache that had formed in the exact middle of my forehead. 

I spent the night worried that Galen and Sera weren’t resting, weren’t eating, and wondering when they’d come back. I couldn’t go to them— not only was I needed at Lhiam’s side until everything that needed to be done to abdicate my duties as his heir was complete, but I wasn’t sure how Sera would take my meddling. There was no reason beyond my wanting to be near them for me to go after them. 

I slept on Sera’s bed both nights they were gone, Edon checking up on me half a dozen times. Lhiam came and dragged him back to their bed over and over, but Edon kept coming back to my side. 

I dragged my fingers through his fur, his soft breaths hot on my skin as he dug his nose into my side. His small body was curled against me, his heat wafting from him and warming me better than the thick blanket I’d thrown over us both. 

“I’m not doing the wrong thing, am I?” I whispered, my words so quiet I wasn’t even sure if I’d spoken them aloud. Edon’s chuff of acknowledgement let me know I had, and that he’d heard me. 

“I’m… I’m worried that Sera may never accept us. Accept me. And I don’t know if I’m strong enough to be rejected by her again.”

Edon’s paw came up to my arm, pushing against me. He whined in the back of his throat and I smiled sheepishly. 

“Oh trust me, I’m confused too. Sera, sure. But Galen? He was… he’s a surprise.”

Edon sat up, tilting his head to the side and staring into my eyes. I could nearly see his words, could hear his questions. Or maybe that was just me, wanting to talk through the turns my life had taken, putting thoughts into his head to fit my own conversation. 

“I saw you and Lhiam. Cain and Riece. Even Sami and Robert, now that I’ve gotten to know them a bit. I’d have to be an idiot to fight the mating bond. I feel it. I do. And it’s confusing, but it’s kind of wonderful too, you know? I can feel that someday, I’ll really love both Sera and Galen. More than I could’ve ever imagined.”

I paused, my fingers tangling in Edon’s fur at the nape of his neck. 

“But Sera. It’s different for her. She’s… gods, Edon, she sees herself as _nothing_. I don’t know if we’ll ever convince her to give us a chance, because she’s convinced herself— and been convinced by that monster she calls Papa— that she’s broken and abnormal. But she’s so much more than that. She’s… I mean, you know. She’s stunning, and as close to perfect as I’ve ever met in a person, you know? 

“Galen seems to be ready to make himself vulnerable, jump at her with both eyes closed and his arms open, and I just… I don’t know if I’m as strong as he is. I don’t know if I can do that.”

Edon whined again and I shook my head. 

“Yeah, I know. I’m going to try anyways. And if she breaks my heart again…” I broke off, unsure how to continue. “Well, I survived once. I’ll do it again. But this time, at least, I’ve got Galen to help me convince her of what she means to me. To him. To us.”

I paused and shrugged as I ducked my head against Sera’s pillows, taking a deep breath in of her natural, herb-scented musk. 

“Maybe he’s what was missing to make her love me.”


	16. Prove It

SERA—

Galen and I didn’t make it back to the keep until nearly evening the day after we left. Galen stayed by my side through Liza’s difficult labor, of which she was nearly five weeks early. We’d arrived at her cottage to hear her screaming at her husband to fetch me, so it had been perfect timing. 

I kept my magic focused in my hands as I massaged and caressed Liza, singing healing songs and chanting in Da’jakian, the language of the gods, passed down by hedge witches for centuries. Most of my efforts were just to keep her calm, but I had to use so much magic to keep both her and her babe alive that I nearly passed out a dozen times. 

Galen was a rock through the entire excruciating labor. He held Liza against his chest, letting her claw and scrape at his arms and hands without a flinch or word of complaint. I could see the bloody scratches on his skin, but he only met my eyes and smiled in a way that had my heart pounding in my ears and my breaths deepening in my chest. 

His patience was incredible. Sami sauntered away multiple times, exhausted and annoyed at how long the birth was taking, but Galen never left my side. He held Liza, but every once in a while he’d reach out and touch me. Just quick brushes of his fingers against my arm, or my hands. He’d tug on a clump of my hair, just gently enough to not hurt, until I turned and he met my eyes with a gentle, calm smile. 

“You’re doing so wonderfully, Sera. Everything’s going to be alright. The babe’s just slow to come. He’ll be out in no time.”

There were a few hours I was certain I was going to lose both Liza and the babe, but I pushed through, practically dumping my power into her belly and towards the child she was suffering through hours of agony to bring into the world. And then, finally, just as Liza began to lag and my power began to wither, the baby’s screams drowned out Liza’s and I sobbed like a child myself. 

“It’s a boy, Liza,” I crowed, pulling the child up so Liza could see him, before turning to clear out his lungs and clean him, then gently setting him in his mother’s arms. 

Now, only an hour or so later, Galen and I had managed to extricate ourselves from Liza’s home, her overly grateful husband, and drag ourselves back to my chambers in the keep. I didn’t even protest when Galen silently followed me directly into my room, too exhausted to fight him and force him to his own chambers. Too worn out and cold from the lack of magic in my body to be upset at the prospect of his body warming mine through the night. 

I silently led Galen into my room, where we found Lacy laying, the blankets thrown off to the side, as if she’d had them on but had gotten hot and kicked them off. Her short, plump legs were completely bare but for a thin pair of undergarments that covered absolutely nothing, and the sheer shirt she wore had hiked up to her ribs, leaving her stomach bare. It rose and fell with her tranquil breaths, one hand delicately laid over her belly, the other cupping her cheek as she slept through my and Galen’s entrance. 

“Goddess fuck,” Galen hissed from my side, and my eyes flicked to him almost involuntarily. His eyes were huge, pure black and heated with a lust so strong I could almost feel it pouring from him to me and pooling in my belly. 

Galen took a step forward, then froze and whimpered. I looked down and caught where his gaze had landed. Lacy’s dusky, pink nipples were clearly visible through the sheer fabric of her night shirt, pebbled against the cold from not being covered by the blanket. 

“Our mate is… she’s…” Galen bit off his words when Lacy stirred, her legs rubbing against each other, her tiny toes curling as she twisted, her face turning towards us. Though she still slept, a little smile graced her lips, and I nearly tripped in my haste to move forward. Towards what— to do _what_— I didn’t know. 

“She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met,” I finished for him, and Galen nodded before catching my eye with a smirk. 

“She holds the spot with one other, but yes.”

I rolled my eyes before turning back to Lacy, feeling my entire body go hot and my groin tighten. 

_No_, I prayed. _Gods, no. I can’t. She’s not mine. She_ can’t be—

“Mine,” Galen hissed, as if reading my mind and arguing with my wordless prayers. 

And then he was kneeling on the bed above Lacy and I could only watch in something like fascination as she woke at the jostling bed, stared up at him for a moment, and smiled so brightly in welcome I nearly had to look away. 

“Mine,” Galen growled again, right up against Lacy’s face, and Lacy’s body didn’t tense. Her expression didn’t darken or show anger. She didn’t fight his words.

She only smiled deeper, her eyes lazily blinking as she brought one hand up to grab the back of his neck and drag him down to her. 

“Prove it,” she whispered, her words husky with sleep as she slammed her lips against his. 

LACY—

Waking to Galen’s big body, just inches from my own, his heat like a beacon for my fingers to find him, was like coming home. More so than my homecoming a few days before. More so than anything I’d ever felt. Waking to him looming over me, his voice growling out his claim on me, his eyes pools of infinite obsidian, had my entire body relaxed and calm, safe and warm and cared for, and yet I was suddenly tense at the same time. Tense, with an ache deep inside me, something below my belly clenching as I stared up into his eyes. 

“Prove it,” I dared, and gods and goddesses, dark and light, he _did_. 

His mouth completely devoured me, his tongue inside so fast my back arched off the bed in surprise. And his _hands_— huge and possessive, calloused and hard, gripping my waist to yank me up against him. 

I returned Galen’s kiss with equal fervor, refusing to let him take control of it, and I could feel him smile against my mouth. 

His body came down on top of mine and I groaned as his thick, hard thigh pressed right up against my core. I nearly screamed when he pressed down, hard, applying the heat of his skin and perfect friction directly against my rapidly swelling clit. 

“Oh my gods,” I groaned, pulling away to breathe. But Galen seemed to not care about the necessity of breath, because his mouth moved from mine, down my chin, nibbling at my ear, then dropping down my neck. His hands came up, cupping my chest through my sleep shirt, and I arched up into him. My breasts fit in the palms of his hands nearly perfectly, and I had to wonder at even strange details like that when it came to the mate bond. 

As if my breasts were made to fit into his hands. 

Lost in sensation, I barely noticed when Galen moved to lick and nip at my clavicle, until a noise drew my attention back towards Sera, and I nearly cried at the look in her eyes. Both of her hands were cupped over her mouth, her eyes wide and bright with uncertainty, maybe a little fear, yes, but there was heat and lust and desire there too. 

“Sera,” I whispered, holding a hand out towards her. Galen pulled up from me, turning back to face Sera as well, and then his hand was outstretched towards her as well. I could see her skirts, pulled up in a kind of kilt around her waist, were tented in the front where she’d grown hard watching us. 

Her eyes flickered from Galen, to me, then back again, before she shook her head and took a half step back, then a full step forwards. Her indecision was almost painful to witness. 

I pushed myself to my knees and scooted over to the edge of the bed, reaching out to grab Sera’s arm. She let me, allowing me to pull her towards me. Then Galen was plastered up against my back, and Sera was looking at me with wide, wet, unsure eyes. 

“Let me kiss you?” I whispered, my voice sleep-deep and kiss-rumbly. 

Her nod was infinitesimal, but it was there, and I took it as consent. 

My pressure against Sera’s lips was soft at first, letting her relax into my warmth. Galen’s hands on my hips tightened, silently urging me on. I brought my hands up to cup Sera’s face, pulling away for just a moment before so gently pushing my lips to hers again. 

Her sigh against my skin had my heart rate tripling. I opened my mouth, gently pressing my tongue to the seam of her lips, and she opened immediately. Her body tensing at the same time told me she’d opened to me on instinct, without her mind getting in the way.

“Lacy,” she whispered against my lips, her hot breath making my entire body feel like it had been stroked from lips to toes. 

“_Mine_,” Galen growled, and then he was leaning heavily into my back to reach over me and slam his lips against Sera’s. Though rougher than my ministrations to her lips, Galen was tender and cupped Sera’s cheek in his palm as he devoured her mouth beneath his. While they kissed, I turned my attention to Sera’s body, my hands moving down to grab her hips and pull her closer, my mouth twisting so I could kiss down her jaw to her neck. 

“Galen,” Sera moaned when he pulled away, only to trail gentle kisses down her cheek and across her jaw, while I gently licked at sucked at the other side of her neck. “Please, I don’t…”

“Don’t fight this, Sera,” Galen whispered, his hands clenching my hips as he pressed me up against Sera’s tense, nearly vibrating body. “Stop fighting what you feel. Let us… let me and Lacy in. We’re all meant to be, but you have to let it happen. You have to _let us in_.”

“I _can’t_,” Sera whimpered against my skin as she dropped her head and dug her face into my neck. Gooseflesh rose up along my arms and legs as her hot breath tickled my ear. I wrapped my arms around her and pressed a kiss against the top of her head. My heart wanted to escape my chest at the feel of Sera, _my_ Sera, _finally_ in my arms. 

“Sera,” I said, the word muffled with my mouth pressed against her head. “Please. Please try. I want this— I want _you_— so much. Please try to feel the same way.”

When a muted, muffled sob escaped Sera’s body, Galen moved around me, bending down and pushing his arms under Sera’s knees to lift her into his arms. I yanked the blankets back so he could set her down in her bed, following her down and wrapping himself tightly around her. She let him move her like a doll, her eyes wet and her lips swollen and red from our joint kisses. 

Galen glanced up at me and motioned for me to lay down. I pressed my body up against Sera’s, finding Galen’s hand at her hip and wrapping my fingers around his. 

“Sleep, sweet mates,” Galen crooned against Sera’s neck as he cradled her against his body. “Nothing is as bad as it seems in the depths of the night. Sleep, and we’ll figure everything out in the light, when things make more sense.”

I curled myself up against Sera, listening to her quiet sobs with my own eyes heating with unshed tears. Gods, but if I could take her pain. When I felt her arms coming around me to pull me tighter up against her, I almost sobbed. I clung to her, never losing my grip on Galen’s fingers, and let her legs entwine with mine as I pressed my face to her chest, just below her neck. 

I fell asleep to the sounds of Sera’s soft sleep breaths and Galen’s growling snores. I’d never known I could be so happy or feel so safe as I did in those few moments before sleep claimed me.


	17. Lord Spencer, Duke of Ruleden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ***** I seriously felt like I was betraying Sera by using her dead name in this chapter as I wrote it. *covers eyes * Sorry, Sera*****

“It’s not as if we can just walk in and force him back, your grace,” the man muttered, his frustrated eyes on the Duke at the other end of the room. “Prince Lhiam has him under his protection, and the Prince has the Emperor’s ear. Not to mention the mages that protect the keep.”

The two men stood in Ruleden’s library, a favorite of the Duke’s late wife. Her portrait hung above the large desk the Duke sat behind as he glared the other man down. The Duchess had been stunning, her hair a long golden yellow that nearly seemed to shine with light, her skin a pale alabaster, her lips full and pink beside it. The man across the desk from the Duke would never admit to the Duke how much his son, especially now that he lived his life as a woman, resembled the late Duchess. 

“He’s my _son_, Grayson,” the Duke hissed, slamming his hands against the desk and lifting himself to his feet. “My only heir. He will come back. He’ll take his place by my side, or gods help me, I’ll lock him up for the rest of his godsforsaken life.” 

“Your grace,” a voice said quietly from the doorway. The servant trembled visibly, his eyes wide as he clutched his hands in a white-knuckled grip in front of his belly. “You have a visitor. He says—”

“Yes, bring him in!” the Duke called impatiently, his eyes flashing with merciless excitement. 

The servant swallowed heavily, but bowed without another word and left as silently as he’d come into the room. 

“Who’s here?” Grayson asked, his brow furrowed as he turned back to the Duke. 

“I knew you’d be helpless bringing him back, so I’m sourcing a mercenary to bring him home.”

“An army couldn’t get past Teren Keep’s walls, your grace! How do you expect a lone mercenary to?”

“You’ll see, I suppose,” the Duke said with a smirk that had Grayson taking a step back. 

“What the f—”

“Your grace,” a voice called from the doorway, cutting Grayson off. He turned and froze, staring the man down who took up the entire doorway and spilled over on either side. He was at least triple the size of a normal man, his arms each thicker than Grayson’s thighs, and his eyes so black they almost seemed to glow with darkness. His head was fully shaved, his skin tanned dark and thick as leather. 

“I’ve come personally, at your request. The payment had better fit the effort.”

“It will,” the Duke said, his voice suddenly much quieter than it had been when he had been speaking with Grayson. 

The man grunted before moving further into the study and stopping only a few feet in front of Grayson and the Duke. It was only when he moved that the man behind him became visible beyond the mercenary’s bulk. The man was so much smaller he almost looked like a child beside the huge mercenary, and the delicate, feminine features made him look even more childish and innocent, despite the company he kept. The thick leather collar around his neck and both wrists and ankles immediately showed him for a slave, if the state of his ragged clothes hadn’t. 

Grayson’s eyes stayed on the young man as the mercenary glared the Duke down. His features were foreign, exotic, though Grayson couldn’t place his ethnicity. His lips were full and pursed, perpetually swollen, his nose small and elegant. Soft, rounded cheekbones sat below huge, upturned eyes, and dark, thick brows. His hair was pure black, almost glittering blue in the candlelight flickering around the study, and his eyes shone with fear and trepidation. So much so it had Grayson’s cock twitching as he could almost taste the slave’s pain even from across the room. 

Besides his slave collar and wrist and ankle ties, the slave wore only a thin, nearly translucent white shirt and trousers at least a handful of sizes too large for him, held up by only a thin length of rope. He noticed Grayson’s attention quickly, looking up with a quick, startled glance, before turning back to staring intently at the thick floor rugs. 

“My son Spencer is living in Teren Keep as the local hedge witch,” the Duke said, his words simple and to the point, a slight catch of fear in them as the mercenary met his eyes directly and didn’t look away. “I want him brought back to me. You can injure him, but nothing permanent. He’s my only heir.”

“The Teren hedge witch is a woman,” the mercenary said. The Duke slammed his hand against the desk, making the slave jump and cry out in surprise, but the mercenary didn’t even flinch. He only watched the Duke with dead, uninterested eyes, no emotion slipping past the void of his expression. 

“My son’s perversions will be fixed once he’s back under my care. He’s being allowed to go around like that because the Prince of Teren is a weak-minded faggot himself. I will pay you what we agreed upon if you bring him back to me. Back where he belongs.”

The mercenary studied the Duke for a few moments, his stare piercing, making the Duke squirm with fear and discomfort, before his eyes flickered to Grayson. Grayson had been staring the slave down, his eyes raking up and down the man’s nearly exposed body, but the mercenary’s attention brought his eyes up to the huge man. 

“You like him? He’s very pretty, is he not?”

“I’ve never seen his equal. You’re a lucky man to keep such pretty things on your arm.” Grayson chuckled as the slave almost whimpered, looking as if he wanted nothing more than to disappear into the wall behind him. Grayson’s cock twitched and rose to nearly half-mast at the sight of the man’s obvious fear. 

“You do not mind having a faggot by your side, but refuse to allow it in your son?” the mercenary murmured, studying his slave as well, not looking back even as Grayson growled in anger at his words. 

“Grayson is Spencer’s... fiancé,” the Duke replied reluctantly. “I don’t like it, but if my son is to be with a man, I’ll allow it if it’s Grayson. It’s my concession to get him home and keep him here, try to placate him. I know Grayson will be able to keep my son on the right side of things, keep him in line, help keep honor in the duke’s seat.”

The mercenary nodded and shrugged, as if wholly unconcerned with the conversation, then turned from his slave to meet the Duke’s eyes again. 

“Double the payment and we have a deal. I’ll have your woman-son back here within a week. I’ll even throw in a few hours with my _bludr_, to keep you and your son’s man happy before I leave in the morn.”

The Duke’s eyes widened as he looked from the mercenary, to the slave, to Grayson, and back again. 

“I have no desire for men, but I thank you for the offer of your blood slave,” the Duke muttered, not trying to hide the disgust in his voice as he glared Grayson down. “But I’ll not stop Grayson from taking you up on your very… generous offer. And I agree to the payment. I’ll give you half now. Bring my son here in one piece, and the rest is yours.”

“Consider it done,” the mercenary replied with a smirk and a clearly sarcastic, half hearted bow. Then he turned and winked at Grayson, who was again refusing to look away from the now-squirming, clearly terrified, panting slave. “Come, Navi, let’s go show this human how much fun it is to break you and how pretty you scream.”


	18. Picnic Basket

SERA—

I tensed when Galen and Lacy’s voices calling my name drifted through the haze my mind had been in all day. I’d woken early that morning the same way I had only a few nights previously— in a tangle of hot bodies. One soft as silk and giving, curves and plush bits making me want to reach out and clutch, taste and touch and grab. The other hard as stone, hot and ungiving, strong and safe, like a wall of brick and safety at my back. 

Galen had still been clutching me to him, and Lacy’s body was nearly spread out atop mine, her legs wrapped around my waist so that her sex was hot against my stomach, making me have to close my eyes and breathe through a wave of lust, my penis hardening so quickly I was almost light headed. On top of the suddenness and intensity of my arousal, my body was depleted from my ministrations with Liza and her babe the day before. I would be exhausted and sluggish for days, I knew from past experience, because I’d pushed my magic and my body much too far. I could only pray no one else was injured or needed me for at least a week, because until then I’d be all but useless. 

Just as I had a few mornings before, I’d moved away from Lacy and Galen and from my bed as quietly as I could so as not to wake the two people who were turning my entire life on its head. 

Because the night before had changed everything. And I was more terrified of them than I’d ever be if I had to face Papa, Grayson, and Death himself all at once. 

It had been a long time since the ache to burn my skin to bring my mind peace had been as strong as it was now, when their voices, mingling in such an enticing way, had me turning and regarding them as if I was facing my own death. 

“Come, Sera,” Lacy said, the stubborn lilt to her voice brokering no objection or refusal. “Chef has made us lunch and I’m starved.”

I’d avoided them both all day, and I could tell from Galen’s searching gaze as he studied me that he was worried. And likely hurt. But Lacy acted as if I had been by their sides all day and nothing was amiss. With her orders delivered, she turned her back on me and began to walk back through the castle. I rolled my eyes and met Galen’s. The urge to kiss the smug, amused look off of his face took me by surprise, but not as much as it would have even the day before. His frustrating, sure optimism was worming its way under my skin. And I was letting it. 

We followed side-by-side, as Lacy led us towards the far end of the castle. I knew where she was taking us. She and Lhiam had a special love for a small, out of the way garden that was barely tended but always private. There was a rare flower that grew there, one with potent healing properties, that I would occasionally go to collect. I couldn’t count how many times I’d accidentally interrupted Lhiam and Edon in various states of undress there. Edon was always horrified, Lhiam maybe even more so as he tried to cover his husband, and it always brought to mind how often I’d walked in on Robert and Sami in similar states. They were never as horrified, but they were also never actually hidden away. I couldn’t even remember how often I’d had to sneak out of the barn with Sami moaning from one of the stalls behind me, or how many times I’d caught them up against the keep walls. 

Their happiness, and the bliss of one of my closest friends Cain, who’d finally accepted that the Emperor was truly in love with him and hadn’t yet looked back, never failed to make my chest ache. Because I knew it was something I’d never have. 

Even if someone could grow to love me. Even if they could look past my history, my failings, my imperfect body and mind, I couldn’t. I couldn’t move away from any of it, and how could I expect someone else to look me in the eye and love me, if I couldn’t even look at myself in a looking glass without wanting to break it? 

Lacy and Galen were kind. They were both near to perfect, and though Galen wouldn’t be a great choice as a husband for the future Empress of We’ren, he was better than I ever could be. And so much better than the both of us together. Despite Lacy’s surety, her confidence, our people would never accept not only a foreign wild mage, but a woman as well, and a broken, not-whole woman at that, as the lovers and partners to their Empress. 

“I love this garden,” Lacy said as she pushed her way towards the edge of the little herb garden, where a low-hanging tree stood tall and only a little bent with age. “Lhiam says it was a favorite of my mother’s, too. It’s quiet and hardly no one comes here. Even the gardeners only come once in a while. The plants here are practically wild.”

Galen looked around and smiled, then turned back to Lacy. “It’s lovely, little mate.” 

He leaned down and kissed her gently, quickly, making her pale skin deepen with a blush as she smiled up into his eyes. 

When she’d first pretended affection toward Galen to get my attention, Lacy’s touches had been so obviously fake they made me squirm with embarrassment and discomfort. Last night, or maybe before, maybe that first night he’d lain on her stomach while I wove them a story, something had changed. They didn’t stare adoringly into each other's eyes, like Lhiam and Edon sometimes did. They didn’t obviously press up against each other, or even touch each other that often, really. But there was a comfort and friendliness, an affection that hadn’t been there before. And the look in Lacy’s eyes when she turned to Galen and laughed at something ridiculous he said… There was definitely something there, now. Something timid and quiet, but growing. 

I should have been surprised by Lacy’s nearly easy acceptance of Galen, but I wasn’t. I’d known her a long time, and though she was stubborn and arrogant, stupid she was not. She’d grown up around Edon and Lhiam, had watched Cain give in to his own instincts with Riece, and had become something like the We’ren expert on wild mages and their culture. On top of all of that, Lacy was confident and sure. She made up her mind, and forever after her path was clear. She never wavered. Only Lacy would be able to accept such a shocking revelation as the one Galen has dropped into our laps with grace and poise. 

I wished I could give in so easily, but it wasn’t a matter of stubbornness but one of terror and a complete inability to see myself as anything more than what Grayson made me. What my Papa saw in me. The thing that I’d been forced to become when both men had refused to acknowledge or accept me, and actively worked to break me. 

“The other night,” I began, making both Galen and Lacy glance back at me. While I’d been lost in thought, they had set out a blanket beneath the tree and were both sitting on it, in the shade cast by the tree. Lacy frozen in the middle of moving to her knees to open the basket of food she’d set down beside the blanket, and Galen stared up at me with his brows drawn in concern. “The other night,” I repeated after coughing to clear the fear from my throat. “When you came to my rooms— were you really having nightmares? Or was that some ploy to get into my bed?”

Lacy let the top of the basket drop back down over it as she straightened to study me, her eyes discerning and almost cold. 

“I was,” she said finally, her gaze never leaving me as she nodded. “My sleep was very disturbed all night.”

“And yours, Galen?” I asked, unsure why it was so urgent that I heard both of their answers. That I confronted the fear that they had come to me in the dark of the night for the same reasons Grayson had: that I was a warm, easy body they wanted to claim. 

“We are connected, Sera,” Galen replied with a shrug. “I dreamt of blood and pain, because my sleeping consciousness could sense something was wrong. When I woke, I knew you were distressed, so I came to you. Lacy was equally drawn to your distress.”

“And I suppose this isn’t something we can ignore, or turn off? Because if the two of you are woken every time I have a nightmare, you’ll never get any sleep.”

Both Lacy and Galen visibly froze, and I wanted to cry at my stupidity. I hadn’t meant to say so much, to give so much of myself away. I hadn’t meant to let as much be revealed with the words, but by the looks on both of their faces, I most definitely had shown them much of the state of my mind and fears. 

“When we are in bed with you, like last night and the first, you’ll sleep more peacefully,” Galen replied, his words, as always, sure and completely lacking in tact. Lacy chuckled and shook her head, and I put both hands over my face and groaned. His stupid, tactless words had done more than anything up to that point in convincing me to give this— whatever _this_ was— a chance. Because gods and goddesses, how much I’d always craved that. Deeply desired a deep, dreamless sleep in the arms of someone who cared for me as much as I did them. 

“You don’t even flush saying that,” I grumbled through my fingers, trying to hide my smile, and Galen shrugged as Lacy laughed outright. 

“Why should I be embarrassed? You’re my mates. I am attracted to both of you and want to have sex with both of you. That’s not shameful. So why feel shame?”

GALEN—

Lacy’s laughter drowned out Sera’s groan, and I smiled at my cackling mate. I was unsure what she thought was so funny, but I was also happy that I could bring her to laughter, and all but preened with excitement as I watched her seeming joy. 

“Gods, you _were_ made for me,” Lacy bit out, shaking her head and wiping at her eyes. My chest clenched, my body freezing. This was the first time she’d acknowledged our mate bond. I had sensed she was coming to accept it. Was beginning to allow herself to feel it, far more easily than our more hurt mate. That her overtures towards me weren’t only to garner Sera’s attention as they had been in the beginning. But to claim me aloud, where the gods and any human within hearing distance could hear her words? Where Sera could hear her accept me and our bond? Gods, my entire body tensed and my hands clenched so as not to reach for her and possibly frighten her back. 

Then everything around me faded as Lacy lifted herself to her knees and, her eyes never leaving mine, began to knee-walk across the quilt laid beneath us. 

Her kiss was demanding, hot, and had my entire body tightening with arousal. Her tongue darted into my mouth, and I took that as an invitation for more. I wove my hands into her hair and pressed her down against the blanket we’d set out on the ground. Her body fit beneath mine perfectly, her plump lips nibbling at my own as I tangled the fingers of both hands into her thick length of curls and groaned against her as she opened her legs and let me in. 

My cock began to swell as she raised her hips up against my stomach, thrusting against me and panting into my mouth as her tongue tangled with my own. 

“Fuck,” Sera hissed from behind me, and I pulled away from Lacy enough to turn back to Sera. Her chest heaved and arousal wafted from her body in waves. I couldn’t see if her penis was hard or not, but from the way she twisted her body, I figured it probably was. Or at least was moving towards full hardness. 

“Get up, big guy,” Lacy laughed before I turned back to her, pushing up against my chest. “I’m starving.”

I whined, deep and pleading, and Lacy’s laughter rose. She lifted up and kissed me, a fleeting, flirty touch, then she was wiggling out from beneath me. 

“Lunch. I need to eat or I’m going to die.”

“Stupid food,” I grumbled, and Lacy chuckled again. 

“Gods, men,” she muttered as she moved to unpack the lunch she’d brought. I glanced up at Sera, who stood awkwardly, obviously unsure of where she should go and what she should do. 

“Come, sit, Sera,” I said, motioning beside me, in the spot between me and Lacy, so we’d all be sitting in a circle. “You’ve been awake since before both of us, and the last few days have been exhausting for you. I can smell how depleted your magic is. You must be starved.”

Sera glanced at me, then Lacy, who seemed to be ignoring us both as she set out the food but was listening intently, if the way her head was tilted and the look in her eyes was any indication, then sighed and shook her head before moving towards us. 

And that, I knew, was her first step into allowing me and Lacy to prove to her what we could be. 

“A quick lunch, but then I have to get back to work. I’m really busy today.”

I huffed out an agreement, but the look in Lacy’s eyes had me chuckling. Lacy wouldn’t let either of us leave until she was good and ready to let us go. And from the frustrated, almost affectionate glance Sera shot at Lacy, she knew the same thing.


	19. Chaos and Rage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've read my story The Shade of the Earth, then I'm sorry for what you're about to read.....

SERA— 

Neither Galen nor Lacy slept in their own beds for the next two weeks. Galen had only been meant to stay in Teren for a few days before moving on to the capital to stay with the Emperor, but as the Emperor was in Teren to help ease the transition of the kingdom losing its heir, it seemed it was accepted that he, too, would stay. 

Each day, I gave into them just a little bit more. Each day was one more thing they willingly coaxed out of me. Each day, I let them kiss me just a few more times, touch a bit more of my body, explored just a little more of theirs. Neither pushed me further than those few kisses, some affectionate touches, and occasional biting. Though anyone would assume that would be from Galen, it was Lacy who liked to leave teeth marks in my skin. I’d see her catching sight of them at odd times during the day, or during meals, and her smirk of almost masculine satisfaction had me blushing and wanting to cover the marks. But she liked to leave them in places difficult to hide. Like my upper neck, just below my ear, and my chest above my hemline. 

I could feel their lust and desire to consummate whatever this relationship between the three of us was too quickly becoming, but I couldn’t force myself towards that final step of giving in. Placidly accepting their attention, Lacy’s lunches, her dinners, Galen’s outings to ride through the forest and outer countryside, his nighttime cuddling the two of us against his big, hard body, and their gentle physical touches was one thing. Actively giving my body to them was something I wasn’t sure I could handle. 

My fear of them and the damage they could do to me was calming into a sense of security I wasn’t sure what to do with, and found it easier to ignore than try to examine. But my hesitations regarding our future never went away. Despite their desires, Lacy and Galen were naive if they thought the three of us had any kind of future beyond what we had now. 

Each day I woke in their arms and slipped out before they could wake, then we spent our days separately. Sometimes Galen would spend his by my side, or more rarely with Lacy. Each afternoon they found me and forced me to follow them to whatever food they’d gathered, sharing gentle touches and kisses as we ate together, laughing at stories told and memories shared. Each evening they took me from my work and dragged me, again, to whatever they’d managed to finagle from the keep chef. 

It was all becoming so routine I nearly had my heart stop in my chest when everything changed. 

I knew something was wrong when Galen came to find me at noon, a gentle smile on his lips as he told me it was his turn for lunch and he’d made an Akaran special dish that was a favorite of his cousin’s. I returned his smile, but both of our faces soon dropped when Lacy didn’t come. She was usually the first to find me or Galen, our guiding light to draw us together and away from our daily lives and towards each other. 

When she was ten minutes late to Galen and her agreed meeting time, Galen wordlessly grabbed my wrist and dragged me up to the castle, his face a maelstrom of fear and concern. 

I stayed silent, just as worried as he seemed to be, but my mind blanked when we rounded the corner of the castle to the front entrance and chaos ensued. Everything happened so quickly, I wasn’t even sure what was going on for a full minute as I processed the scene before me. 

We rounded the corner to silence and a single guard lounging beside the front gate— Robert, I thought, though he was far enough away I couldn’t quite make out his features. Just as Galen opened his mouth to call out to the man, maybe ask where Lacy had gone, a call rose up from the guards on the battlements. 

“The Emperor! Get to the Emperor! The Emperor’s hurt!”

Seconds later, the entire courtyard erupted in sound and commotion as guards seemingly trailed out of every crack and crevice, running towards a lone figure that stumbled and fell to the ground at the gate. 

Robert’s cry of “Gods no, _Sami_!” drowned out everything else as I finally jerked myself out of my stupor and ran towards the center of the chaos, Galen so tight on my heel I could feel his heat behind me. 

In the middle of the crowd of guards, Robert knelt beside a bloody, swaying Riece, who in turn held a small, naked, completely limp and silent form in his arms. Not even a breath disturbed the stillness of the body as I stared in horror at the scene. 

“Sami,” I whispered, my heart thundering as I saw how much blood coated the small man. The fact he was naked told me he’d been shifted into his cat form. And the sight of him human told me he’d been forced to shift back. Whether by death or a deep unconsciousness, I knew not. 

“Step back! Let Lady Sera through!” Lhiam’s voice called as he pushed his men back from the Emperor and shoved me forward. I felt, more than heard, Galen growl at the Prince as he touched me, but we both ignored him as I knelt in front of the Emperor. 

“Your majesty, are you hurt?” I asked softly, trying to instill a sense of peace and safety that I was _not_ feeling. 

“I’m fine. Please— Sami saved my life. He tried… he tried to save Lacy. Please help him.”

I flinched at his words, and could feel Galen’s horror hitch up behind me at them as well. 

“Lacy? Is she—” I began, but the Emperor cut me off. 

“— She’s alive, for now,” the Emperor said, shaking his head and gasping in pain as the move obviously aggravated some injury. “They— they took her. Sami… gods, Sami fought so hard. He couldn’t… we couldn’t—”

Robert reached out, his face pale as death, and fingered his husband’s thick, curly hair, his eyes widening as his fingers came away soaked in blood. 

“Dammit, Sami, we’re supposed to go together. You’re not allowed to go first,” he whispered, his body trembling as he leaned forward and pulled Sami up out of the Emperor’s arms and into his own, cradling him against his chest like a child. He looked up at me, a pleading so desperate I flinched back and away from it in his eyes, and sobbed out a single word. 

“_Please_.”

I nodded and stood, motioning for Robert to follow me. Galen stepped into my path and I looked up into his wide, horrified, anguished eyes. 

“Sera, we have to… _Lacy_.”

I nodded and put my hand on his arm, trying to keep both of us calm, though I felt anything but. “Prince Lhiam will gather a party to go after her, and we’ll go with them. I can’t let Sami die, Galen. Let me treat him first.”

“She’s our mate. We can’t not go after her, Sera. We have to protect her. We have to go _now_. I cannot leave her alone.”

“This is my duty, Galen. Lacy would—”

“_Fuck_ your duty, Sera!” Galen screamed, his shirt audibly ripping as he half shifted, his skin rippled with black fur, his eyes huge and wet with fury, his hands now claws bigger than my head, and his mouth wide with teeth as sharp and long as any dagger. “She’s your _mate_!”

“No, Galen, she’s yours,” I whispered, staring up at him as he heaved and snarled above me. I wasn’t even sure what I was feeling, but it wasn’t fear of him. Horror maybe? Confusion definitely. Loss. Desperation.

Oh yes, definitely desperation.

And guilt. So much guilt for not being enough. Not being able to both save Sami and immediately run after Lacy. 

_You’ve never been enough, and you never will be_, Grayson’s voice mocked in my head, and I forced it back with a shake of my head. 

“You don’t mean that,” Galen hissed, his claws clenching as he stepped away and visibly tried to calm himself. “You have an hour to heal the cat, then we go, with or without Prince Lhiam’s men. Hurry, Sera. And preserve your magic. Our mate might need it.”

I didn’t wait to argue with him. With each breath, each heartbeat, Sami lost more blood; and he had none to spare. 

Galen fell into step behind Robert as he followed me towards my workroom. I motioned to the table in the center of the room and Robert momentarily hesitated before he set Sami down on the cushioned spot, his motions so gentle it almost brought tears to my eyes. I had to turn away when he tenderly pushed a thick curl away from Sami’s closed eyes. 

I wasn’t sure if Robert would survive the loss if Sami didn’t make it. He was his whole world. Had been, really, since the moment the little cat walked up to the brusque guard and claimed him as his mate before two dozen witnesses. 

My magic pooling in my palms, deep green and gold to my own sight, I yanked a bowl down from the ceiling and gathered various herbs around the room. Using a pitcher of water that sat on one of the counters, I mixed the poultice and moved towards Sami with the mixture and a wet rag. 

Pouring as much magic into his body as I could, I closed my eyes and set to work. 

LACY—

The room I woke in was nearly pitch black, with only the smallest sliver of light beneath what I thought should be a door. I sat up, flinching as the pounding ache in my head, radiating out from the large lump at the back, seemed to tighten and intensify with my movements. 

I tried to remember where I was, why I was in the dark, and why I had woken without Sera and Galen by my side, and everything came back in a rush. 

Riece convincing me to go on a walk with him. Sami following dutifully when one of the guards at the gate asked him to accompany us, his paws trotting silently in the dirt beside us. The men seeming to pour out of the shadows without any warning, Riece immediately taken down by a man the size of a mountain, a sword slicing across his chest making me scream out his name. Sami howling a searing screech as he killed two of the men, and then fell, kicking and screaming, biting and clawing, as he was attacked by nearly a half dozen more. His desperation was clear, his body moving towards me before he was slammed to the ground, again and again, until he was, finally, still. I took down one man with my daggers before there was pain bursting down the back of my neck and everything went black. 

A shuffling sound over to my right had me freezing and jerking my hand down from my head, staring into the blackness as if I might be able to see what had made the noise. My imagination ran wild— picturing a wall of cockroaches, or a floor covered in rats. Even a giant monster, with a million sharp teeth and fetid breath that stank of the men it had eaten before me. I knew that this last was ridiculous, but the monster’s shape somehow began to take form in the shadows around me. 

“Who’s there?” I called impotently, my fingers automatically moving to the blades I knew wouldn’t be at my thighs or wrists anymore. 

It was only with reaching for them that I realized that not only didn’t I have a blanket, but I wore only a small pair of undergarments. My groin and ass were covered, but that was it. I held back a cry of fear as I reached up to cover my breasts and flinched in pain at what felt like some kind of wound on the left one. 

“Master bit you, your highness,” a voice said from the same direction the noise had. I screamed, slamming myself back against what felt like a stone wall behind me. My breath left me in a rush, my body jerking with fear as what was most definitely footsteps moved closer to me. 

“I didn’t mean to frighten you. I’m sorry,” the voice said, cracking a little with worry and sorrow, and maybe a little with disuse. There was a tinge to the accent I couldn’t place, and I was unsure whether the speaker was a man or a woman. I huddled my body into a tight hold, trying to cover as much of myself as I could. 

“Where am I? Who are you?” 

The voice sighed softly, and another few steps had them just beside me. I forced myself to stare up at where I thought they were, but my bravado died when I screamed as something brushed against my foot. 

“My shirt. Take it, your highness, and cover yourself. I’m sorry— it’s all I have to give.”

I reached forward tentatively, snatching the garment and holding it up against my chest. It was small— would be a little tight on me— so I guessed the speaker might be a woman, or even a child, if this fit them. 

“Who are you?” I repeated sternly as I fumbled to find the neck openings. The shirt stank of sweat and blood and probably a bit of sex, but I put it on anyways— it was better than being naked for whatever the men who had attacked me had in mind. 

“I’m sorry— I know it smells. If I had something else—”

“Who. Are. You?” I bit out, frustration making my words hard as I glared up at the person standing far too close to me. 

“My name is Navi, your highness,” the voice answered quickly, then, their voice lowering just a little, “You shouldn’t speak so loud. Master will get angry.”

“Fuck your master,” I growled out, sitting up so suddenly the person took a few steps back, their breathing quickening, as if afraid I would hurt them. 

“I don’t want to see him hurt you. He makes me watch, and I—” the voice trailed off, and I felt a brief flicker of pity. This person was obviously just as much a victim, if not more so, than I. Maybe they could help me. Maybe we could help each other escape. 

“Who is your master?” I asked, softening my words and lowering them so they would keep calm. 

The person’s voice made a single syllable, but they were interrupted when the door slammed open. I was completely blinded by the sudden intrusion of so much light— though it was only a single lantern— so I could barely make out the huge form of the man who now stood in the doorway. 

“C’mon, slut,” the man’s voice grumbled, his tone mocking and eager. “Your master requires your services.”

I flinched, terrified the man was speaking to me. But then he reached over and yanked the person to my side to their… to _his_ feet. The man was small— only a few inches taller than me— and so skinny his bones protruded through his skin. Young— maybe my age or a little older— he had hair a black so dark it shone blue in the candlelight. His skin was pure ivory, and he was completely naked, his body dangling helplessly in the much bigger man’s arms. I didn’t catch anymore of him, for, with a frantic, terrified glance back at me, he was yanked through the door and gone. 

I was left alone in the absolute dark of whatever prison the men who’d attacked me, Riece, and Sami had thrown me into.


	20. The Healer and the Bear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *****Fun things (I don't own the songs, duh)—
> 
> Galen's song= I Get to Love You, Ruelle
> 
> Sera's song= Brave Enough, Lindsey Stirling feat. Christina Perri
> 
> Lacy's song= Castle, Halsey
> 
> Their love song= Per Te, Josh Groban
> 
> Happy listening!*****

SERA—

The entire time I ministered to Sami, Robert was there, clutching the smaller man’s hand, whispering out broken words into his husband’s ear. Admonitions. Anger. Pleas. Begging him to hold on, to not let go. 

“You promised, Sami. You promised— not until we’re old and asleep and together. Not like this. Not before me. You can’t do this. You fucking promised me, you damn fucking brat.”

I felt Galen’s presence for most of the next half hour, though at one point he left and came back with a rucksack thrown over his shoulder. Close behind him came Riece leaning on a furious Cain, who half-dragged, half-carried his husband into my workshop and set him on one of the chairs near the fireplace. Despite the rage visibly roiling through Cain, his hands on Riece were gentle and he helped him into the chair with all tender care. Silvia was quickly behind them, and she joined me by Sami’s side. Her magic immediately mingled with my own, and I shivered as my body began to tighten with exhaustion, able to let go now that she’d come to finish Sami's healing. 

“He’s going to be alright,” Silvia whispered to Robert as I moved away from Sami and towards Riece. Her hand on Robert’s arm had him relaxing against the table, reassuring him as I’d not had the energy to do. “Sera’s gotten him out of the worst of it, and I’ll pull him the rest of the way up. Your husband’s gonna be fine.”

Robert pressed his face against Sami’s prone belly, his shoulders shaking with silent sobs. 

I knelt in front of Riece, ready to heal him as well, but both he and Cain glared down at me, Cain actually reaching out to push me back. 

“Silvia can treat Riece. He’s not hurt badly. Go get Lacy back, Sera. Lhiam’s gathering men, but he doesn’t even know where to start to find her. Your bear can find her better than anyone. Go. Now.”

“I can’t just leave the Emperor—” I began, but I was cut off by both Cain and Galen growling fiercely. 

“Go, Sera!” Riece bit out. “The future Empress of We’ren is out there waiting for her mates to come find her. So go now; go find my heir and your future wife. Go!”

I stood, taken aback by Riece’s easy acceptance of our burgeoning relationship. Galen’s hand on my arm drew me towards him, and I followed as Galen led me forward to the front courtyard, my feet dragging in the dirt as the exhaustion of healing Sami from near death began to wash over me. My magic was nearly depleted, but I’d been unable to do anything other than help him. Being a healer was in my blood, it was who I was, and the biting depletion of my energy and clear mind was the price I paid for the gift of my magic. 

“Galen, please, slow down. I—”

“The Emperor is right, Sera. Our mate is waiting for us. I’ll rip apart anyone who stands in our way of getting to her, but I need you there and ready to heal her if she’s hurt. Please, Sera. Stay with me. It’s just you and me now. Just the two of us who can protect our Lacy.”

I nodded dumbly, forcing my fatigue back and picking up my feet. 

“We need horses,” I began, but Galen shook his head and stopped suddenly when we entered the courtyard amid dozens of men preparing for departure, led by a commanding Lhiam. A small wolf stood nearby, his body practically vibrating with eagerness to leave and find his best friend— the little girl who had helped save him, and then accepted him as a sometimes brother, sometimes father. 

“I’d wanted to wait a little longer, until you’d fully accepted me and our bond, before shifting in front of you. But circumstances are forcing my hand. I’ll go faster than any horse, and my bear can sense and smell Lacy’s trail. I’ll find her, and you need only sit back and be there when I force my through any who stand between us and our mate. Understood?”

I nodded, unable to speak, as Galen placed the rucksack he was holding into my arms before pulling away and looking down at me. His eyes were bright with frantic fear for Lacy but also concern for me. He knew I’d used more magic than I should have and now needed rest and sustenance, not a harrowing run and a battle. I’d left him in the horrible position of choosing my safety over Lacy’s, and I felt guilty for that. I knew my magic wouldn’t have let me leave Sami, even if my heart had, but my guilt was heady that I was causing Galen distress and I prayed the hour delay wouldn’t prove detrimental to Lacy’s well-being. 

“When I’ve shifted, climb atop me and hold on. Bring the rucksack— it has my clothes and weapons, and a few of your herbs and bandages.”

I hadn’t even seen him grabbing them around me as I’d healed Sami, but I nodded and then watched in awe as he stepped back and stripped so quickly I barely had time to look him up and down— thick, muscled thighs leading up to a long, uncut cock and a dark patch of curly hair trailing in a line up to his belly button. Dark nipples peaked in the wind that coasted in from the forest beside the keep, and his hard stomach tightened as he met my eyes. 

“Don’t be afraid, Sera, please. I’d never hurt you, no matter what form I take.”

I wanted to tell him I’d never fear him. I wanted to tell him I never felt safer than I did when I was with him. I wanted to tell him that I’d spent much of the past few years with a huge cougar as a best friend, and a fiery bobcat was the greatest comfort I'd known until Galen had stepped into my life and, with him, Lacy returned, bringing her light and her spirit to soothe my own. I wanted to tell him the greatest thing I feared wasn't his beast, but his heart. 

But I couldn’t say any of that, because he began to shift, as I’d seen him do a few times, but he didn’t stop halfway as he had before. Gods no. He kept growing and growing and growing until he loomed over me, dark eyes and dark black fur, rippling muscles and claws bigger than my head. Talons as long as daggers and just as wicked-sharp. Arms and legs nearly as thick around as my entire body, and teeth that gleamed feral in the sunlight. 

I took a step back, a scream in the back of my throat, a primordial, very human fear making my knees weak and emptying my lungs. I’d never been so terrified, and it was primal and deep-seated, and irrational. Nothing— nothing— could have prepared me for the sight of him, nearly seven feet tall on his back legs and likely six hundred pounds. He could kill me with a single swipe of a negligent paw. 

My terrified retreat lasted two steps before I looked up and finally met his eyes. Those thick, huge eyes that I’d only glanced at before now dragged me in and my mind blanked, this time with something other than fear. 

Galen, the man I’d slept beside for over two weeks. The man who’d told me stories about his family, about growing up in Akar. About his mother and his cousin and his cousin’s babies. The man whose eyes— those very same eyes that stared down at me from deep within the face of a monster— had lit up whenever he saw me, excited just to touch any bit of me he could. The same eyes that had looked down at me just before his lips caressed my own. The eyes that had smoldered with emotion as he watched Lacy give a passionate speech about the meeting she’d had that day, and her frustrations with the politics in Teren and the changes she planned for all of We’ren. 

Those same eyes, the ones I’d begun to fall in love with, despite my very real fear that I could never recover when the inevitable happened and both he and Lacy left me, now watched me and begged me to stay calm, to trust him, and to accept this piece of himself that he was baring to me earlier than he’d wanted to. 

“Galen,” I whispered, my hands reaching up toward him just as I heard shouts behind him and my heartbeat kicked up. 

I pushed him aside and he dropped to all fours as I circled him, my arms wide, as if anything I could do with my body would cover the huge beast at my back. 

“No! Don’t hurt him! It’s Galen!” I screamed as the men, as terrified by the sight of him as I’d momentarily been, moved forward with weapons drawn. “Please! He won’t hurt you!”

“Halt!” Lhiam called. Even he trembled as he stared Galen and me down, his eyes wide as he looked behind me to Galen’s huge, terrifying form. “Let them go and we’ll follow! Galen will track Lacy!”

The men dropped back, some visibly reluctant to turn their backs on Galen. And I understood. The fear of him was primeval, something built into the innermost fabric of our very human souls. I whirled back around and met his eyes, gratitude and love shining in their dark depths. It was heady, seeing the emotion and feeling it course through his body and waft over to mine. I wanted to groan, to close my eyes and wallow in the feel of his love, but I held back. 

“We’ll get her back, Galen. We’ll bring our Lacy home.”

Galen nodded his huge head, and I wrapped the bag around my back, then moved to his side. He dropped to his belly, and I hesitantly gripped his fur, unsure how to move forward. His body pressed up against my legs, his head turned back to stare me down, and I saw the message in his eyes. 

_Hurry. Our mate is waiting_.

The moment I was securely atop Galen’s broad back, my legs wrapped around his huge body and my fingers tight in his fur, he rose up and ran. Faster than anything his size should ever run. 

Galen seemed to be following Lacy’s scent to an extent, but I could tell from Edon’s frequent stops and starts, his confused glances up at Galen, that her scent was either very faint or nonexistent in places. I also knew the mate bond he’d fostered with Lacy over the last few weeks would guide him better than any scent could have. 

It wasn’t until we had been running for hours that I realized what direction we were going. My heart sank, my mind in turmoil. 

_No_, I begged to any benevolent _anything_ in hearing distance. _No, it’s not possible._

_He wouldn’t dare._

_He’d never go so far._

But even as the words roiled through my mind, I knew they weren’t true.

My father was nothing if not stubborn and willing to do much to get his son back.

I just never thought he would risk losing his home, his freedom, even his very life by attacking Prince Lhiam’s heir, much less the Emperor’s.

As we came out of the edge of the western woods, facing the small castle of my childhood, I jumped down from Galen’s back. I let my hand rest on his thick neck as I braced myself against the waves that nearly had me toppling to the ground. 

My stomach clenched and nausea nearly had me doubling over. For the memories that clamored for my attention, the fear of them, for the looks I knew I would get as I passed by the men and women I’d grown up with. The ones who had never been able to look past the boy I’d been born to the woman I now was. 

The bustling town around Ruleden was alight with movement, sounds, smells, the chaos of a marketplace, and I could sense the hundreds of souls just a league from where we stood. The sounds of crying babies and laughing children, the bartering in the market and arguing outside the taverns danced on the wind that rose above the castle.

“Oh gods,” I whimpered, despite myself, as the wave of noise and emotions washed over every sense my magic gave me. 

Galen’s hot breath huffed over my face as his eyes found mine, and I nodded, trying to rein in my terror.

“I’m alright. Do you… do you sense Lacy?”

He hesitated, his eyes raking me, before he nodded again and took a few steps toward Ruleden, then stared back at me.

"Is she…?" I began, not quite sure if I could breathe past the next few words of my question, feeling them coalesce in my chest but getting stuck in the roiling terror and horror that clogged my throat. 

Galen's eyes were gentle, concerned, and warm when they met mine. He leaned forward and gently licked the top of my right hand, his breath huffing out hot against my skin. I nodded, taking a deep breath in, pushing back my fear, knowing Galen and I were possibly Lacy's only chance of getting out of this alive, and turned to Edon.

"Please go back and let Lhiam know that we’ve found her in Ruleden. He needs to know, so he can bring the Emperor. The last thing We’ren needs right now is fighting amongst her kingdoms.”

Edon's gaze was watchful, his amber eyes gazing into mine as he debated whether to obey me and protect his mate and his people from war, or ignore my request and stay to save Lacy.

"Galen's her mate, Edon. We're going to get her out, I promise. No matter what."

Galen’s huff of irritation was ignored by both me and Edon, because Edon hesitated not a moment more. He yipped once, then jerked back and leaped into the brush of the forest, his paws completely silent against the earth.

Rustling and cracking sounded behind me, and knowing what the sound was from, due to the many years as Cain’s friend, as Sami’s, as Edon’s, I knew I would turn to see Galen’s expressive eyes staring me down from his round, human face. What I didn’t know was if it would be with anger, pity, or worse. Something like empathy, something like affection. Anything that I couldn’t just brush off and walk past. Anything that would somehow break past my walls like only he and Lacy seemed so easily able to do. 

There was more rustling, this time quieter, just his bare feet against the grass, his soft breaths as he bent, then the sounds of him sorting through the bags he had packed. 

“It might be best…” I began, unsure how to phrase my next words. How to say them so Galen agreed with my plan, knew the dangers of his coming with me. Because if I knew anything, it was the hatred my father felt for something he didn’t understand. And a large, dark-skinned man who could magically transform into a bear? He may just kill him on the spot. My father had never had any patience or tolerance for Prince Lhiam’s choice of a partner, and my defecting to Lhiam’s kingdom had only solidified his hatred of the man. And of others, I thought, who didn’t quite fit into his worldview of perfection like I continued to do. 

“The only chance you have of forcing me to remain here and leaving my mates to fend for themselves is if you cut off both of my legs, Sera. Stop thinking it. Your fear for me makes me very happy, but your lack of care for yourself hurts my heart.”

I froze, turning to stare the man down. He wore a tight pair of black breeches, untied at the top, showing the dark trail of hair from just above his belly button disappearing within the laces. He was bare everywhere else, and my blush heated so quickly I felt lightheaded. His chest and belly were tight with muscle, with just the smallest bit of give that had me wanting to reach out and grab him, dig my face against the dichotomy of the soft and the hard his entire body exhibited. 

His smirk was annoying, but I tried to ignore it and turned from him, my eyes back on the town below us. 

“Then what? We walk up to town, me riding a giant bear, and simply demand Lacy’s release? We’ll be killed immediately, on sight, for fear alone.”

Galen huffed out a laugh, shaking his head as he lifted a soft white shirt over his head. I had to cover a whimper of protest as he covered his gorgeous skin from view. 

“Not that that wouldn’t be amusing enough, no, Sera. You are still the daughter of the Duke, are you not? We walk in as if you are his daughter, and he will see you. _Then_ we demand Lacy’s release.”

“But that’s exactly what he wants. This is a ploy, to get me back. I know I haven’t talked about my father, about my circumstances, but I—”

“He is not understanding of your soul?”

I took a deep breath and wanted nothing more than to cry. Never before had someone seen me, seen _me_, deep inside, my very _core_, like Galen. Not only did he see me, know me, touch something inside me that ached to be seen and known and touched, but he made it seem so… _normal_. Made _me_ seem like I was just one of many people he had come across in his life. 

And somehow, though it should be the opposite, that had me feeling special to him. Precious.

Loved. 

I shook my head to clear it and bit my lip.

“You make it sound so simple.”

“He is disparaging of my mate; he doesn’t treat her as a father should. I can tell that just by the way you speak of him, and the way your friends do. Thus he is not any man I want to know, and none I can respect. That is the simplest thing in the world.

“What I need to understand right now,” Galen continued as my breaths faltered, staring out at the town that hated me for being born different than they. “Is how many men your father commands, and if you’re willing to face your greatest fears for the woman we both love.”


	21. Feign Strength

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *****TRIGGER WARNING: violence, threats of rape and other evil things.*****

SERA—

Galen's huge, human body lumbering by my side, his bare feet kicking up the dust of the road, his arms bulging through the thin shirt he wore, was the greatest comfort I could have, given the circumstances. He stayed so near me I could feel his arms brush against mine every few feet, his eyes on everything and everyone around us, watching, waiting, on alert for danger. Ready to kill to protect me, even though I knew if it came down to it, I would be the one to kill for him, and for Lacy. 

I knew I could keep Galen safe, and force my way to Lacy, if it really came down to it. I knew my magic, the deeper, darker magic I never touched, never even thought of if I could help it, would be there to aid us if things truly became so desperate. But the last time I'd used it, the last time I had taken life, rather than giving it, had left a scar on my soul I knew would be there until the day I died. 

And acknowledging that it might be the only thing to save the two people I'd somehow stupidly allowed into my heart had my hands shaking more than being in the town I'd grown up in, the one that hated my very existence. 

I knew I _could_ do it, but would I be _able_ to? Would I be able to force past my fear of the magic, and inflict another scar on my soul, this one oh, so much deeper than the one I already had, because this one would leave real, human souls, their blood, on my conscience for the rest of my life. 

When I saved Silvia with my magic, I killed a forest. Saving Galen and Lacy may lead to many human deaths, and I was terrified I'd be too much of a coward to follow through with what I knew I was capable of. 

"Head up, Sera," Galen grumbled from beside me as we took our first few steps into the town lines. His voice was loud enough to carry over the noise of the crowd around us, but quiet enough that only I would hear him. 

Which was barely necessary a moment later, as we began to be noticed, and I was recognized. The hatred in many eyes, the glares, the hush of the crowd around us, had me instinctively reaching out for Galen's hand. I cared not what they thought as he easily let me wrap my fingers around his, his own tightening around mine encouragingly. The fear of their reactions to me by myself was greater than any I had of them seeing me with him. 

I heard the whispers, but I ignored them. It had been years since I had been back, and I knew the herbs I took, the hormones, had changed me more than any of them could have imagined when I left. 

I was no longer the young woman who fled her father's stifling hatred. But their eyes on me brought me back to that scared, lonely person, as if I had never left. 

"Head up, sweet mate," Galen repeated, his face tilting, leaning down towards me until he forced my eyes to meet his. "You are Chosen of a goddess, true mate of a wild mage, and future wife of an empress. These people are nothing to that. They are _nothing_ to you. They are the dirt beneath your feet, and they don't deserve any of the thoughts in your head. Keep your mind on me, on Lacy, on our future together. Keep your head up, my beautiful Sera, love of my heart, and let them rot. Let them know how very little we think of them and their small minds, their hatred, and their disdain. Let them see how very little they affect you."

His words shot through to my core, and I felt my back straightening even as I fully met his eyes and nodded, determined and angry that I had let myself become weak again. 

He was right. 

They and their thoughts on me, on how I lived my life, who I loved, how I chose to express myself, mattered to me not at all. So why had I almost let them think that it did?

I turned from him, keeping his fingers entwined with my own, and lifted my chin, my gaze on the castle and nothing else. 

I could hear a few indrawn breaths, the whispers quieting, and I smiled as I glanced up at Galen. A real, genuine smile, not forced, not hiding what I really felt. I bared everything I felt for him in that moment then, and I could see how hard it was for him to hold back from leaning down and kissing me.

"Later, big man, I promise. But first, let's get our princess."

"Yes, Sera," he growled, his words filled with heated promise, and I laughed, dragging him beside me as we made our way towards my childhood home. The place I had grown into the person I was now, despite the struggles I had faced every day. The heartbreak, the fear, the loneliness, the abject persecution. 

Into my own, personal hell I'd hoped to never see again. 

LACY—

"Do you have _any idea_ what Riece is going to do to you?" I hissed up at the man standing above me, watching me as if I was something he'd found stuck to his horse's hoof and he had no idea what to do with it. "Or Lhiam, for that matter? Let me go, Spencer, or I swear to the gods, you will never—" 

"Shut up!" Spencer screamed, his voice manic, almost insane in its ferocity. Then the world spun and my sight exploded in color and black spots as my head snapped to the side from his fist against my eye. 

"_Shit fuck_," I bit out, spitting blood onto the gilded carpet beneath me. 

Two large, gruff men had come to drag me out of my prison after an interminable time. I wasn't sure if days, hours, or minutes had passed since the young man that had given me his shirt, leaving himself completely bare, was torn from the tiny, lightless room. It felt like weeks, but I knew that in darkness that bleak, my mind would play tricks on me. 

After tying my hands behind my back, the men had all but carried me through halls I recognized immediately once I was out of the lower dungeon levels. 

_Spencer, how far will you go to suppress your daughter's life?_ I thought as I was moved past tapestries I had admired the last time I was here, the first time I had met Sera. The last time I could remember being the sole owner of my own heart, before my naive self gave it over to a woman I barely knew.

The men threw me down to the dark, heavily embroidered carpets in what looked like a study. Shelves of books and scrolls lined the walls, along with decorative shields, tapestries, and a set of crossed swords. The swords hung above a desk, far too big for any one man, made of dark mahogany wood and polished to such a high shine the glare almost hurt my eyes. 

I dragged myself up, using my shoulders since my arms were still tied at my back, and looked around me, horrified at what I saw. 

Lord Spencer, Duke of Ruleden and Lady Sera's father, stood in front of the mahogany desk, his eyes widening in surprise as he took in the sight of me. Two other men stood in the room, and a small figure lay curled up in the corner. I could see bare skin, blood, and dark bruises, but very little else of the man or woman, but I sensed that I had met the person before just as a flash of insight had me realizing who it was: the young man who had given me his shirt, who had been ripped from the cell we had shared. This must be the result of the "services" his master had required. 

I had to bite back bile as I realized the form was barely moving, except for the rise and fall of his back as he sobbed and his body shook nearly violently.

"The entire army of We'ren is already on the way," I pushed Spencer, bringing my eyes back up to him as I felt blood drip down my chin. "You must know this, Spencer. You have to know how idiotic it was to take me, even if I was still only Lhiam's heir."

"_Only_ Lhiam's heir? What do you mean by that?"

"Ah," I laughed, feeling no mirth at all, but forcing myself to smile up at the man sardonically. "So the news hasn't reached this backwater hellhole yet? I'm Riece's heir, you asshole. He just announced the news a few weeks ago. You kidnapped the future Empress of We'ren."

One of the men who stood off to the side of Spencer I knew, even if I had only seen him from afar. The man Sera occasionally begged in her sleep, the man she still had nightmares of as she tossed and turned between my and Galen's bodies. 

Grayson. 

The man I _knew_, without Sera having to say a word to me, had raped not only Sera's body, but her trust, her soul, her heart. The man I fought the memory of every day, trying to force my way into the heart of a woman I'd loved for as long as I knew what the emotion was. He had done something so evil she didn't even feel she deserved to _live_, much less love. 

At my words, both Spencer and Grayson blanched, Grayson taking a step back, his eyes moving from the third man in the room, to Spencer, then back to me before returning to the third man again. 

That man... gods, he was the only one I truly feared. Though why, I couldn't say. It wasn't his size— though, to be honest, he rivaled even Galen in girth— and it wasn't the weapons that seemed to sprout from every available surface of his body. 

No, there was something... gods, something so evil in his eyes, I felt my heart stutter at the sight of those black depths. Something that spoke of a knowing, brutal kind of sadism. As if he would set fire to a person just to watch them scream. As if he would stop the world turning, just to see life die out around him. 

He was the end of something. He was something I should fear. I felt it, deep in my bones, like a primitive part of my brain, screaming that he wouldn't just kill me, he would do something to my soul that would decimate me wholly. 

His smile as I shivered when our eyes met had me wanting to scratch at my skin, but I refused to let him see more than he already had. I raised my chin, glaring the man down. 

The woman raised by Edon and Lhiam, taught by Cain and Riece, wouldn't let any man think he could hold fear over her head. Until my last breath, I would fight them, and show them the mistake they made in taking me from my home, from my family, from the two people I knew I had to spend the rest of my life with. The two people I would share my throne, my home, my heart, body, soul with. 

I would show them all that I may not have Galen's strength, or Sera's magic, or Riece's clout, Cain's anger, or Lhiam and Edon's steadfast courage, but I had them all in my soul. All of them left pieces of themselves inside me, and I wouldn't let any of them down by cowering from the evil in front of me. 

"You're lying," Spencer growled, raising his hand as if to strike me again. I was absurdly proud of myself that I flinched not at all, only stared into his eyes, willing him to see the truth in my words. 

"I never lie, your grace," I replied, keeping my voice steady and calm. "I am Emperor Riece's heir, and you know who his husband is. How he protects what he considers _his_. And let me tell you, I'm very far at the top of that list. Let me go, _now_," I emphasized, "and I'll ensure they only imprison you and take away your lands. You'll be disgraced and you'll lose your freedom, but you won't die in agony."

The laughter took me by surprise, and I looked up at the huge man just in time to see him step forward and bend down, crouching so he was almost eye level with me. It would be impossible for him to truly be eye level, for he would have to crouch down nearly to the floor with how tall he was, but he was close enough I could smell the dried blood stench that seemed to permeate from his very skin.

"If I liked cunts, I'd have to take you from the Duke and teach you what that mouth is really for," the man said. His voice was deep, with a strange, echoing lilt that had a shiver dancing down my spine. It sounded as if a dozen voices spoke along with his, as if he had souls inside of him, singing out along with his words. I couldn't help the instinctive way my body flinched back from him. "I like when my boys spit fire and when they have fight in their eyes. It's so much more fun to watch them bleed and beg and scream. So much more fun to watch them break as I rip them apart."

The shudders that tore down my spine had me shivering, my eyes flickering to the prone form in the corner behind the man. He must have known what I was looking at, because he smiled, his teeth sharper than they should have been. I fought another instinctive move away from him and forced myself to meet his eyes. 

The evil there... gods, I didn't want to be so close to him. I wanted it to not touch me, and I had the irrational fear that just his breathing on me would pass that manic darkness into my very being. As if it would enter my lungs and permeate my veins. 

"Ah, you've seen my pet, have you? He's the perfect little slut; just the right amount of fight, but he gives up easily with enough pain. He's been owned before me, and his previous master..." He laughed, his teeth flashing again, his eyes wide with an almost awed respect. "Well, let's just say she makes me look like a benevolent god. He's very special though. Able to take much more than most mortals can. I'll keep him for a while longer, I'm sure. 

"You like him, like how broken he is? Like seeing what I would do to you, if only your chest was flat and you had more to grab and make bleed than a cunt? Does it excite you, that fear?"

Bile rose in my throat as his eyes glittered with sick glee, his words sinking into me, making me want to scream and run from him, from the words he used to purposely get under my skin and make me feel dirty, used, helpless. I knew that's what he was doing, but I couldn't stop the way I wanted to crawl out of my own skin just to get away from the fear that had my hands shaking so hard the chains clanked against the ground.

"Not so high and mighty now, are you, _your majesty_?" he said, almost gently, his eyes warming as he pressed a fingernail, sharp and jagged, down my cheek, leaving a trail of fire where he broke through the first few layers of skin.

"So what if she's telling the truth?" Grayson muttered as the man rose to his feet, towering so high above me I couldn't look up at him without tipping myself over completely. My entire body shook, because the fear of him had heightened with his touch. 

There was something _wrong_ about the man. He was... He wasn't human. 

_He isn't human_, I thought with a sudden burst of insight, of knowing. _He's something else. Something... dark. Something hellish. Something..._

I thought of my studies. Of all the scrolls I had read, of creatures thought to be fantasy, as wild mages had been before Edon had shyly stumbled his way into Lhiam's heart. I thought of the witches, hedge witches and those darker sisters— spirit witches and blood witches. Of those even more vile creatures, even more evil, those that either had no humanity, or gave it up completely in search of power— demons and necromancers, sorcerers and shadow mages.

I thought of everything I had learned in my own personal studies after Edon had come to Teren, researching him and his magic and how that led me to so many other avenues of magical beings. But I knew not what category this man fell in. I only knew he was something else. Something _other_. Something I had never wanted to face. 

"Give her to the mercenary, and be done with it," Grayson finished, drawing my attention back to him and Spencer, the man— the mercenary— always on the periphery of my mind and sight. "They won't know she's here. The mercenary took her; they won't track him to us. And even if they track him to here physically, we'll tell them they must have been passing through and we didn't see anything. We have no reason to kidnap her; no motive. They'll believe us; why wouldn't they?"

"If you have no reason, _why the hell did you take me?_" I growled, biting back the furious words I really wanted to say. The words that would surely get me hit again. 

"One bitch looks the same as another," the mercenary grunted, shrugging and smiling toothily down at me as I tried to look up at him. "The Duke said to find his daughter that had blonde hair and was spending her time in the forest around Teren. He should have been a bit more specific, I'm thinking."

I shook my head and glared up at the Duke. "So you were kidnapping Sera, not me."

"That's not his name!" the Duke screeched, moving towards me so quickly I hadn't the time to react before his fist hit my cheek again and I was flying back, slamming into the ground with a grunt of pain. My vision blackened momentarily, then came back with stark clarity, as I tried to force my breath back into my lungs. 

I was granted no reprieve, however, as the Duke immediately stalked towards me, towering above me with absolute, deep hatred in his eyes. His boot flew towards me before I could breathe more than a half dozen times, and the pain that exploded in my abdomen was quickly overshadowed as his boot again landed on my chest. My thighs, my hips, my belly again, his heavy boot kept hitting, over and over, as he screamed above me. I was blind to everything but the pain, not sure if I was screaming or if I wasn't capable of making a sound as his assault unrelentingly broke my insides over and over again. 

"He's my _son_! My son, _Spencer!_ I have no _daughter_, you sick, perverted bitch! You and your cousin, the Emperor, you're all disgusting, _vile_," he grunted, almost each word punctuated by a kick as I tried to curl around myself but barely able to with my hands at the awkward angle they were in at my back. "Don't think I don't know about _you_, little girl! Fucking your way through every other girl in the capital, before setting your sights on my son! You've _stolen_ my son from me, and if I can't have him _back_, I'll end his life just like I gave him life!"

His beating finally ended as the Duke tired himself out, and I coughed horridly into the rug beneath me, blood pooling heavily among my spit as I heaved and sobbed. I was horrified as I realized I had been crying, screaming out during the attack, and the scent of urine had me wanting to cry harder as the rug beneath me was wet with my own piss. The single shirt I wore, barely big enough to cover me, had ridden up and ripped with the Duke's kicks, so that I was barely covered, nearly naked beneath the three men who watched me with various levels of hatred and anger, and from the mercenary, sick glee. 

I spit a few times onto the carpet, closing my eyes as the men began to talk around me, trying to concentrate on breathing and forcing the pain back to keep myself conscious and alert. My ribs were broken— at least two or three, but I feared more. I was certain he had broken my collar bone, my left arm, and right wrist. Neither of my legs would move, and fear threatened to choke me as I realized neither of them hurt either. And as I remembered the kicks directly into my back, brutal stabs against the center before I was able to weakly shove myself over and try to curl up and protect myself. 

My body was already covered with bruises, and I could see them forming before my very eyes, all over my legs, but I felt nothing from them. 

A sob ripped from my throat, drawing the attention of the men, and the mercenary let out a brutal bark of laughter after only a moment of studying me.

"You've severed her spinal cord, your grace. That's too bad. I was considering breaking my rule against cunts and seeing how much longer a woman could endure having sharp objects shoved up her cunt than men can. It would've been an interesting experiment. But if she can't even feel it..." he trailed off, as if considering whether his horrible torture was worth it if I couldn't feel it. 

Finally, his words had broken through my fear and I was barely able to tip to the side in time so my vomit spewed and mixed with my blood and piss rather than all over the front of my shirt. The mercenary's laughter echoed around me as I spit bile from my mouth and turned back to the men. 

"You don't... understand," I bit out, pushing my terror at how much _more_ helpless I now was, and how terrified I was that if I lived through this, I may never walk again. I met the mercenary's eyes, seeing his surprise that I still had the little bit of courage to do so. I knew he was possibly the only one that would take the threat of the four wild mages who would come after me would pose. 

"The Emperor's husband and true mate is a cougar shifter," I began, gasping and heaving for breath past the pain, watching the mercenary for his reactions. He seemed unconcerned at first, as if he had known who Cain was, but as I continued, I saw his eyes darken. Not with fear, no, I couldn't see this creature afraid. But with a wary kind of caution. If he was capable of fear, he would be feeling it. 

"My cousin's husband... and true mate is a wolf shifter," I breathed out, each word forced through my bloodied lips making pain glance across and dig into my ribs and stomach. I pushed it back, though, knowing I had to get them out, had to try to get back to my lovers, my family, and my friends. 

"One of his guard's has a bobcat... as a true mate and husband, and my mate— my true mate... and future husband— is a bear... shifter. They're all coming, whether... they think the Duke had motive," I coughed, hacking up blood against my palm and frowning down at my now bloody fingers with terror bubbling up in my chest. "or not," I finished. "They're coming, and they're going to _raze this place to the ground_ looking... for me. And if you know wild mages as I do, as I'm sure you... you do from the look in your eyes, you know my mate will track me to the ends of the earth, to his last... breath, until he finds me. Is this really something you want to be involved..." I took in a heaving breath, my vision blackening as I bent over, trying to keep my head from spinning. "Involved with?"

The man considered me for a moment, his black eyes almost curious, wary, and watchful, then he smiled and shook his head. The pain that constantly wracked through my body had me wanting to fall over, give in to it and fall into unconsciousness, but I fought it with only a few groans of pain as I managed to hold myself upright. 

"The bitch is right. I'm fucking out of here. I knew about the Emperor's man, but a pack of that many wild mages, and a fucking _bear_? The last time I fought a bear, I was nearly eaten alive. No fucking thank you. You're on your own, daddy bigot."

"You coward!" the Duke hissed, taking a step towards the man before he seemed to realize what he had said and done and stumbled back. I kept my breaths steady, forcing myself to sit up despite the awful, numb, _nothing_ feeling from my legs and the pain in my back and the rest of me. 

"Pay me now, your grace, and I'll be merciful and forget those words. I know this is a... _trying_ time for you."

"You didn't bring me my son; I'm not paying you for doing nothing!"

"It wasn't my fault your information was faulty. I brought the blonde that lived at the keep and spent her time in the forest. Pay me. Now. Or you'll learn what happens to those who try to keep from me what is mine."

The Duke opened his mouth, ready to argue again, but a soft, hesitant knock on the study door cut off his words. The door cracked open and a man, in his forties with white hair and a paunchy belly, stuck his head into the room. His eyes flickered around, but he tried to keep them only on the Duke, his fear and horror evident as he took in the room and the two bodies, bloody and broken, on the ground. 

"Your grace, I know you said not to disturb, but sir, your daught— your son is here. Lord Spencer is here, your grace, with another man."

"Another man?" the Duke asked, his irritation at being interrupted showing through even as he accepted it as necessary. 

"A dark skinned, very large man, your grace. I know not who he is."

"My mate," I bit out, my smile probably not so scary since I was pretty sure my entire face and mouth were covered in blood. I stared directly at the mercenary and grimaced out as genuine a smirk as I could. "My bear. He's here for me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now, we have caught up to Wattpad! I typically upload every Sunday night, so I'll see you guys again soon!!


	22. Heir

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alright, y’all. I’ve been super remiss in updating here. I’d wanted to stop updating on AO3, because Wattpad is just more user-friendly (imho), and I’d started to get a little overwhelmed with trying to keep up with both, but I do want to try to start up on here again. 
> 
> What this means if you don’t follow me on Wattpad: dude, you’ve got a bit to read haha. I’ll probably do most of The Shadows Between the Stars today (as much as I can while I’m at work haha), then some more as I can over the next week or so. Then I’ve got the first few chapters of River & Griffin’s story (the final Wild Magic book) up on Wattpad so I’ll get those going. Once I’m caught up here, I’ll follow my Wattpad upload schedule here too (typically one chapter a week). 
> 
> Ok so that was a lot of words. In short, enjoy :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *****I hope you enjoy this chapter! It and the next few are very intense, so.... *blows kiss * *****

GALEN—

Sera’s terror and insecurity was painful to witness. From the moment she stepped foot into the castle she had spent her childhood in, she seemed to completely forget my words from only an hour or so before and she retreated completely into herself. I could see her eyes flickering around the room we were led into, her pupils completely dilated with her fear. 

It had been nerve-racking moving through the streets of the town as we made our way to the castle. There had been no kind eyes, no one watched us with anything less than hatred and disgust. I wondered if having me there had compounded their negative feelings, or if they would have possibly treated Sera worse than they were if I wasn’t a strong presence at her side. 

It had been unsettling, but I had kept my head high, kept my fingers entwined with my mate’s, and moved forward as if I noticed not at all. We were met at the gates of the castle by a dozen heavily armed, bristling guards. They’d taken one look at Sera, the leader snorting in disgust, before turning their backs and escorting us through the castle. The room they left us in had hunting tapestries on every wall, depicting stags and other prey animals running in terror from men atop horses and their hounds. A large fireplace sat unlit, the room chilled and dark. 

Sera immediately let my fingers slip from hers and moved to the window. I watched her, concerned, but knowing she needed space to breathe and wouldn’t thank me if I tried to push her in this moment. It wasn’t long that we stood there before a man entered. He was older, not too much older than my cousin Geir, but his age had hit him much harder than Geir’s had. Geir still looked in his early thirties though he was years past that, but this man looked almost a decade older. His hair was white, his belly straining past his belt, and his skin papery thin, pale, and heavily age-marked.

The man turned to Sera and, barely meeting her eyes, motioned to the door. 

“Lord Spencer, the Duke is awaiting you in his study.”

Sera visibly and almost violently flinched, her eyes flickering from the man to me, then back again, before she took a deep breath and nodded. 

“Lead the way, Tuith,” she said, her words barely a whisper of sound. I took a step forward, my mouth open as I met the man’s eyes, ready to defend my mate, ready to fight for her right to be whoever the fuck she wanted to be. But one glance at her and my mouth slammed shut, and I moved back to her. 

I took her face in my hands, her cheeks hot between my palms, her eyes refusing to meet mine as she stared over my shoulder at the empty air at my back. “My sweet mate, this will all be over soon. Soon, we’ll bring Lacy home, and she and I… we’ll show you how much we love the woman you are. I’ll spend every day of the rest of my life proving to you how much I love who you are.”

Her eyes finally met mine, and the tears shining in them, held back by her pride alone, almost had me shifting and turning on the man waiting impatiently behind us. 

“I don’t matter right now, Galen. Only Lacy does. Don’t,” she bit out when I opened my mouth to dispute her words. “Don’t argue, just listen. If you duel everyone who treats me as Tuith does, we’ll never make it out of here, and you’ll kill everyone in the castle. Please, ignore them, let them call me what they will. But let’s get the hell out of here. Alright? Promise me?”

I studied her, watching her eyes and her face, seeking out her truth, then nodded. 

“I swear it, my Sera. I’ll hold my tongue and my claws back, and we’ll get Lacy out.”

We held our gaze for a moment more before Sera’s fingers entwined with mine and she turned back to the servant.

“We’ll follow your lead, Tuith,” she said, her words almost regal, full of confidence and power. Her back was straight again, her eyes hooded with disinterest, her chin raised as she glared down at the man, as if he was beneath her. As if his very existence, his life, was nothing in her eyes. His gaze flicked between us, his disgust heavy in his eyes, before he turned his back and, without another word, began to walk away. 

Sera and I followed through the halls, and it was only a few minutes before we were led to a large, embossed wooden doorway. The servant knocked thrice, a call to enter rang through the door, muffled by the thickness of the wood, and we moved to push past the servant as he almost reluctantly held the door open for us. 

We entered into a dark but warm study, a large fireplace and many candles lighting the room rather than the sunlight that was muffled by a thick, purple curtain over the only window. The room was warmer than the one we had been in before, but it was also stuffy and smelled strongly of parchment, ink, and dust. 

The newer smells of blood, terror, urine, semen, sadistic excitement, and pain wafted over me as I looked around, my eyes trying to take everything in all at once. 

Keeping my bear at bay had never been more difficult than it was as I caught sight of Lacy. I half shifted, fur running up and down my arms, my hand in Sera’s shifting into a claw as I clung to her, and my shirt ripped as my body instinctively moved to protect what was mine.

There were three men in the room, Lacy on a chair behind the desk, and another form in the corner, still and unmoving, nearly completely hidden by the darkness of the area they were in. A man stood just behind the chair Lacy sat in, a dagger pressed to her throat, his other arm around her chest to hold her back against him. She stared at me and Sera through slitted, bruised and swollen eyes, and blood almost completely covered her face. I could see bruises up and down her arms, her pretty white-blonde hair was a halo of crumpled, frizzy curls around her face, and her eyes were filled with terror. 

I never thought I’d see my spirited mate show so much fear. 

What was even more surprising was how affected Sera was. Her whimper of pain was loud in the silent room, and my eyes flicked to her as she looked Lacy up and down, her eyes more expertly seeking out the injuries Lacy bore than mine could. 

“Sera, Galen!” Lacy called, beginning to struggle against the man who held her, though her movements were weak and unenthusiastic. She cried out when the man jerked her, forcing her to still, and Sera’s gasp at the same time told me Sera’s power was more empathetic than I’d previously realized. She was physically feeling Lacy’s pain. 

Or maybe it was the mate connection.

“Grayson! Don’t… don’t hurt her!”

The man smirked, though I could see the slight hesitation in his eyes as he looked from Sera to me and back again. 

Grayson. The man my mate dreamt of; the one who had put nightmares into her mind and raped her innocence.

Oh fuck, my bear wanted to tear his head from his shoulders. 

I had never been a violent man, but it looked as if it took one of my mates getting hurt to get my bear salivating for blood and viscera. 

I snarled, and both Grayson and the man I knew was Sera’s father flinched. The Duke was a tall man, and Sera had inherited his hair color and his jawline. Beyond that, I was sure she took after her mother, because his eyes were cold, filled with hatred and an almost manic disgust. I couldn’t even imagine my sweet mate’s eyes showing anything near the evil I saw in the man across from me. 

It was the last man, the one almost three inches taller than me and built like a bull, that finally drew my attention. And I realized immediately I should have noticed him before, because he was the greatest threat in the room. His eyes were on Sera, excitement lighting his features with sadistic glee, and I could nearly see the parasite inside him twisting with lust. 

A sorcerer this far west? I didn’t think they lived further than a hundred miles from Nekatip, but I supposed I had been wrong. And the low level demon, feeding off of what remained of his corrupted soul, was easily visible to my sight, transposed over his own features with its twisted, almost lupine face. 

Sorcerers made pacts with demons— in exchange for their souls and the ability to live in the mortal realms, the sorcerer was given the power of the demon. The level of the demon depended on the strength of the sorcerer. The more powerful the sorcerer, the more powerful the demon. If a sorcerer summoned a demon that was too powerful, which happened often, the sorcerer was immediately devoured. 

This sorcerer was almost weak, the demon inside him looking like a monster rather than humanoid, like the more powerful demons tended to look. The more powerful the demon, the more human they looked, the more easily they walked among mortals. 

But even a weak sorcerer wasn’t something I wanted anywhere near my mates. 

“Let her go, let us leave, and we’ll leave you in peace. You’ll never have to see any of us ever again.” Sera’s words were strong, her voice steady. It didn’t crack or break, though I could feel her hand in mine was sweating and shaking. 

“You’re my son,” the Duke bit out, his eyes wide as he took a few steps forward, stopping only when I growled at him in warning. “My only heir. I want you to come back. I want my son back. Please, Spencer, come h—

“—That’s not her name, you impotent piece of shit,” Lacy bit out, her words slurred with pain and possibly a broken jaw. 

Before either Sera or I could react, Grayson yanked Lacy back and up out of the chair, drawing a scream of pain from her. He clutched her to his body, taking all of her weight as she hung in his arms, her legs…

Her legs dangling bonelessly, dragging against the ground as Grayson moved around the desk to pull her closer to us, the dagger never leaving her throat. She was all but naked, wearing only a filthy shirt that hung to her groin but didn’t cover it, and had holes in it that showed more than it covered. 

“Oh Eses above, no,” Sera whimpered, her eyes watching Lacy’s legs in horror just as I was. 

As if Sera and I weren’t completely transfixed by our mate’s broken body and paying little attention to him, the Duke continued to talk, his words delivered with an almost tender, fatherly air, if he wasn’t standing two feet from a puddle of what I knew was a mixture of Lacy’s blood, vomit, and urine. 

“I’ve decided I may have pushed you away, so I’ll allow you to come home and marry Grayson. You’ll have to bed a woman, to beget heirs, but Grayson has graciously agreed to keep your marriage open in that way. Dress and act however you want, with Grayson, in your rooms, but I will have my son back, and you will be the next Duke of Ruleden. This nonsense ends today. The princess and that… _man_,” he bit out in disgust, his eyes not even deigning to look from his daughter to me, “will leave here, and you’ll be my son again. I'll forgive you for how you have shamed me and our family name, if you but give up this craziness and come home.”

Sera was silent for so long, the Duke opened his mouth to speak again, but finally she turned from staring down at Lacy’s legs, to meet the Duke’s eyes. 

“You’re insane,” she bit out, her eyes wide as she looked at her father. The man who raised her after her mother’s death, the man she had to have, at some point, felt love for. The man who should have loved her, no matter what choices she made, or what she was born to be. 

The monster who now tried to force her to bargain for the life of the woman she loved. Who was trying to force her to choose between her own freedom and happiness, or the lives of her mates. 

The stark realization in her eyes wasn’t a surprise. The dark, bitter, angry magic that began to course through her veins, the very veins that normally bore the light green of healing magic, was a shock that had me taking a step back, my brows raised as I watched my mate shudder as she met her father’s eyes. 

“Let the four of us leave now, or I’ll end your lives. Make your choice now; I will not wait. I need to heal my mate.”

The sorcerer chuckled darkly, shaking his head and smiling at Sera as if she were an errant child. “I assume you said four to include my slave? He is none of your concern. He is mine, and you can’t have him. If you try to take him from me, he’ll only be brought back to me, because he’s a blood slave. Tethered to me by the very blood in our veins. It's the greatest of collars.”

Sera didn’t flinch as she met the man’s eyes, black sparks of magic shooting between her fingers, then she shook her head and turned back to her father. “We’ll come back for him, then. There are ways to break a blood bond. For now, give us Lacy, and let us go. I’ll not ask again.”


	23. The Blood Slave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A great way to contact me if you want is via email at herellwrites@gmail.com. I also have an Insta I just started to get serious about so feel free to check that out too. Idk how to put that here so it’s just herell_writes. 
> 
> Anywho, enjoy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *****I don’t remember if I’ve put lots of trigger warnings on the previous chapters I’ve uploaded here and I’m far too lazy to check. So, TRIGGER WARNING: these pages are intense with homophobia, racism, transphobia, using a trans-person’s dead name, etc. You know, all the really contemptible stuff.*****

SERA—

The dark power surged through my body, sparking along my skin as Lacy’s pain nearly overwhelmed my thoughts. I could feel each life in the room, a little flicker of light I could so easily snuff out with a single wave of my hand. I had sensed the man on the ground, small and broken, and knew him to be an innocent. If not for the blood, bruises, and semen that covered his body, then for the lightness inside his soul despite the pain he had so obviously been subjected to. 

_I’ll come back for you_, I promised him, praying to Eses that I wasn’t lying. He had gone completely silent, his breaths barely audible. And just as I prayed to my goddess, his body jerked and he turned to face me, almost as if he'd heard the silent plea. As if I'd directed my words to him. 

The man was gorgeous. Young— gods, no older than Lacy—with hair so black it was more the absence of other color, of light, than it was a color in and of itself. Though there was a tinge of blue to the black that seemed almost to shine brighter as I studied him. 

His eyes, so blue it was almost blinding, caught on mine and held as my silent prayer went up to Eses. There was something there, something in the back of my mind, as he watched me. Something whispered, in the voice of the deepest part of myself, where my magic lay, where my soul resided, that spoke to me. Told me to protect him, to bring him home, that he was something special. He was an innocent. But more than that. Something…

Something unexplainable. 

Finally, his eyes lifted from mine and he seemed to take the room in. I watched him, but was yanked back into my current situation by Lacy’s cry of pain as Grayson jerked her again, her broken ribs jostling and making her scream in agony. 

“Stop it!” I shouted, bringing my hand up to point at Grayson. I didn’t want to kill them. No matter what they did to me, no matter what evils they had committed, I didn’t want their souls on my conscience. It was wholly selfish, and had nothing to do with them at all, really. I had enough demons that taunted me, I didn't need murder on my conscience too.

Beside me, Galen growled so low it sent shivers down my spine. And then, after another cry of pain from Lacy that had my entire body thrumming with an unbelievably pure rage, he shifted, his clothes ripping from his body with a sound so loud my ears rang with it, and all hell broke loose, seemingly all at once. 

My father turned gray, his eyes widening as he took multiple steps back until his ass hit his desk. 

Grayson screamed, dropping both the dagger and Lacy, turning to run from Galen’s massive form. 

And the third man, the man that had something living _inside him_, though I had no idea what it, or he, was, bit out a bark of command in what sounded like another language and pulled a sword from his scabbard. 

Dropped suddenly due to Grayson's frantic retreat, Lacy hit the ground with an aborted scream, her legs not even attempting to hold her up, her voice dying abruptly as both she and I felt, at the same moment, one of her broken ribs dig deep into one of her lungs, collapsing it as she gasped and strangled in agony.

Her chest heaved as she immediately turned blue-pale from lack of oxygen, and I knew then, my eyes locked with hers, with a surety that I’d never known before about _anything_, that if I didn’t save her my life would end with hers.

Maybe it was wrong. Maybe it made me weak. Codependent. Broken. Fuck it, I didn’t care. For once in my godsforsaken life, I _didn’t care_.

She was mine. My love, my princess, my mate, my Lacy. 

And she would _not_ be taken from me. 

Especially not by the man who had tried so hard to steal everything from me, and very nearly succeeded. 

He'd taken my heart and broken it. Stolen my trust and my innocence. And taken from me the very deepest places of my soul that I'd left naively unguarded. He'd very nearly destroyed me, but I'd survived and was even healing, more and more every day, due in large part to the woman he'd beaten and thrown to the ground as if she was nothing. As if she wasn't one of the greatest things to ever happen to me.

No, Grayson had taken enough from me.

He would _not_ take my Lacy.

The power surged out of me all at once as I held my arm up, pointed it at Grayson, and took his life. Took it from him like blowing out a candle. Because just as easily as I could heal life, I could also deny it and snuff it out. This I'd learned the hard way, and this I'd hoped to never have to do again.

But for Lacy, for Galen, to protect the two people I… the two people I loved, I'd do anything. I'd tear myself apart if it meant Lacy was happy and alive, breathing and well and no longer gasping for breath that wouldn't come. 

For her, I'd tear the world down around me. And from Galen's roars from beside me, terrifying and exhilarating in equal measure, I knew he would be there with me every step of the way as I ripped apart everything around us for the woman we both loved.

Grayson fell with only a soft exhale as his soul fled his body, and I gathered up every bit of life and health he’d had in his veins and ran to Lacy’s side. Behind me, Galen and the big man collided, Galen’s growls and the man’s curses nearly drowning out my ability to think, but I pushed back my fear for Galen and focused on Lacy. 

Galen could handle himself until I healed Lacy, but she was dying now.

I used the energy from Grayson to heal Lacy’s lung, watching as she began to breathe in great heaves as it reinflated, then I focused on her ribs, so it wouldn’t happen again with all the jostling that was bound to happen until we got her somewhere safe. 

Healing without the aid of herbs was always possible, for me at least, though I knew many hedge witches found it difficult if not impossible, but it required much more energy, more magic, and exhausted me completely. Infusing the herbs and tinctures with my magic allowed me to heal without tiring myself out day in and day out, but the ability to heal without them was one I’d had since I was a child. Using the energy and life I’d stolen from Grayson helped me shore up my already depleted reserves of strength. 

Lacy’s hand found mine as she blindly heaved for breath, and she squeezed my fingers, as if to reassure me. I had to fight back tears as I met her slitted, swollen, blood-soaked eyes.

“You... c-came.. f… for me,” she whispered brokenly between gasps of breath, and I couldn’t help the sob that escaped my chest. 

“Always. I’ll always come for you, Lacy.”

Lacy tried to scoff out a laugh, but she flinched and moaned, her eyes closing as she drifted on a wave of pain I wasn’t able to keep from her. 

“You... love me… a lot, huh?” she choked out with something like a smirk, two wounds on her mouth splitting open and beginning to bleed again as she spoke. 

“Yes, I do, so stay alive, alright? I want to tell you, to prove to you how much, when you’re not all bloody, and my father isn’t two feet from me. Deal?”

Lacy’s eyes fluttered but they stayed closed and she hummed in agreement before finally letting herself pass out from the pain. 

It was only then I noticed my father had yanked one of his prized, jeweled swords from the wall and was advancing steadily on me. 

“If I can’t have you, Lhiam can’t either," my father spit out, his voice all vitriol and acid. "You’re _my_ son, _my_ heir, and if you won’t be that, I’ll end your life so you can’t be anything else.”

A roar, sudden and ear-splitting, drew my attention back behind my father, and I stared in horror as the man Galen had been fighting yanked a sword from Galen’s gut and kicked him back. Galen’s huge body hit the stone wall with a sound like thunder, one of the tapestries falling over his body as his blood began to pool beneath him. The man moved towards the bear, his eyes gleaming with excitement, with a lust for blood that had my own blood cooling with terror. 

I was staring at the man and Galen so intently I hadn’t noticed how close my father had gotten. I looked up in time to see him raising his sword above his head, ready to arc it down on me in a killing blow. I met his eyes, and realization hit me for what felt the thousandth time that day. A realization of something I'd known but had never allowed myself to accept or acknowledge.

My father had died the day my mother did.

This man was broken beyond repair. He had allowed loneliness and despair, evil and hatred to turn his heart so cruel he would kill his own child to try to keep her from her happiness.

I flinched as I let my power flow, a bit gentler than I had with Grayson, letting the dark magic trickle into him rather than blasting it into him all at once in a violent press of rage. I pushed it into his chest and watched as he crumpled to the ground, his sword clattering behind him as he fell. 

Holding my father’s life energy in my chest, feeling my breaths tighten with despair that I'd been forced to do something I knew would haunt me for the rest of my life, I dragged myself to my feet and turned to the final man, the one who had some kind of creature hiding in his soul, filling his body. 

“What are you?” the man grumbled, looking me up and down, then meeting my eyes. “I’ve never seen a hedge witch kill, much less with her magic. That’s not a power given by Eses; no one I’ve heard of, anyways.”

I ignored his question, meeting his eyes as I blocked Lacy with my body as much as I was able, wholly and completely aware of Galen's every ragged, pained breath and the little time I had to get to him before I was too late. “Release your slave, and I’ll let you leave.”

The man laughed, shaking his head as he began to step towards me, his sword raised, his eyes intent. 

“Make me,” he taunted. "Take him from me, if you've got the power and the guts, little girl."

I reached out with my magic, the darkness of taking so many lives making me want to curl up around myself and never move again. But I knew I had no choice. I had to protect them. I had to save my mates, even if it cost me my soul. 

The man’s life was right there in my mind's eye, a flicker of light amidst the darkness that was his soul, but when I reached to put it out, smother it in death, I hit a bracing, sinister wall of resistance. I jerked back and terror threatened to rip me to shreds. The creature inside the man seemed to cackle with mirth as he bore down on me, his thick sword clutched in blood-soaked fists. I closed my eyes instinctively, too afraid to face my own death, curling back and away from the man. So I didn’t see the hit, only heard it, a sick, wet, thunking sound of metal slicing through skin, muscle, and bone. There was a scream too, and a roar of fierce anger, but all of that was nothing to the tiny, soft grunt of pain that had me wanting to keep my eyes closed and never open them again. 

I forced them open anyways, staring in horror at the young man who had been in the corner of the room, completely naked and covered in various fluids. He stared up at me, nearly a foot shorter than me, his eyes wide with agony, but acceptance too, some kind of gentle, sweet kindness, as he took the blade meant for me. 

It had cut halfway through his body, going through his left shoulder, his chest, and nearly cut his top half from his bottom half. He made a soft, gurgling, wet sound, blood pooling around his mouth as he opened it, as if trying to speak, then his eyes rolled up and he slipped down to the ground, his eyes sightlessly staring at Lacy, now fully conscious and staring in horror at the boy, dead only a few feet from her. 

“Fuck, that’s a mess,” the man muttered in disgust as he violently yanked his sword from the boy’s body, the prone form jerking with his callous moves. “He’s really very pretty when he dies, isn’t he?” 

I took a step back, horrified at the man’s words, at his callous treatment of the innocent life he’d taken, and tried again, desperately, to reach out with my magic. 

Which proved to be pointless, for as the man took one step towards me, he was suddenly being ripped in half, his top half in one of Galen’s claws, his hips and legs yanked the opposite way by Galen’s other claw. 

I cried out, dropping to my knees in surprise as the creature inside the man wailed, a horrifying sound, before disappearing in what looked like a puff of black smoke, leaving the empty husk of the dead man. 

Galen dropped the man’s body to the sides and let himself fall to the ground beside me. I reached towards him, my hands carding through his blood-drenched fur. He crawled forward, shifting into his human form as he laid his body atop mine in exhaustion. I let what I had pulled from my father flow through me and into Galen, healing as much of his sword wound as I could, before falling back and feeling Lacy’s hands on my arms. Galen atop me, Lacy propped up against the desk, holding me in her lap, I felt unconsciousness flicker at the edges of my vision. 

“I can’t feel my legs,” Lacy whimpered, her words filled with the horror of realizing what would be so devastating to lose. “I can’t… I can’t feel them. I think… Oh gods, I can’t…”

Silently and almost without conscious thought, Galen forced magic into my body through the connection of our joined skin. I wasn't even sure if he had given it willingly, or if I'd taken it from him at Lacy's broken whispers, spoken against the side of my head as if she couldn't even bear to glance up at the reality of her horror. Elemental and fierce, and filled with a primal fury I’d never felt in any magic before, his power fueled me enough to possibly heal Lacy. I took what he gave without hesitation, having completely drained myself of anything to mend her when I had healed her lungs, her ribs, and Galen’s stomach. Reaching back to grab the back of Lacy’s head, I held her to me, lying against her stomach, Galen’s body completely prone atop mine, the three of us forming a pile of broken bodies that must have looked horrific from the outside. 

I let Galen’s magic rejuvenate me as I pushed it into Lacy’s back, fixing what had been broken, healing what I could. Galen’s power could only go so far, though, and I ran out again quickly, before Lacy’s back was completely mended.

If I didn’t heal the wound in the bone now, it would scar over. And I could heal wounds, but I couldn’t heal scars. If I left it now, the damage would be permanent, and that was wholly unacceptable.

_No. I won’t let them take that from her. I won’t let her live the rest of her life as a cripple. Not my Lacy. Not if I can heal her._

I dug deep, pulling up my own life, the flickering flame I could see inside myself, and dragged it out and away.

My life was nothing to hers. I knew that, everyone knew that, even Lacy, though I knew she'd stubbornly deny it if pressed. She was Princess Lacy, future Empress of We’ren. And I would give her that future back, even if it meant severing my own. Because how could I not? I was nothing, and she was everything. She was _my_ everything, and she was Galen's, and she was the light of hope for a better future for the entire Empire. I’d give her her happiness back, no matter what it cost me. 

The black sparks danced with the green along my skin as I pushed my life into Lacy, my flame flickering with each breath I took as I forced her back to straighten, to mend, to heal. 

The last thing I heard was Galen yelling, begging me to stop, and Lacy’s confused words, her desperate pleas, and then I was drifting in darkness so deep it froze my very breath.


	24. Acceptance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> These are beta-read btw. I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned that. I can’t tag them or whatever you do here in AO3, because they’re on Wattpad. But I’ll ask them how they want me to put them on here. 
> 
> One of them created a Insta account for fanarts and things, if you wanna check that out. I love the stuff she’s made. I’m also reaching out to a few people who’ve sent me stuff to see if I can share it, so we’ll see on that. She’s the bestest, so feel free to contact her about anything you might have :) her Insta is everlasting.stardust

LACY—

Everything happened very fast after Sera passed out. The moment she gasped and her eyes rolled back, unconscious and limp in my arms, pain seared my nerves, my legs alight with agony as I realized they were both almost black with bruises. I didn't think they were broken, but gods, I was just happy to feel them. 

Before she'd passed out, Galen had been cursing at Sera, though what he was saying made little sense, since most of it was in Akari. He had realized what she was doing before I did, his voice rising in panic as Sera's hands and skin lit up with black and green sparks of magic. 

"She's using her own life force to heal you!" he yelled down at me, his eyes wide with barely suppressed terror as Sera resolutely ignored his hands dragging at her arms to pull her up and away from me. Her face remained stoic, her eyes clenched shut, her mouth moving in words unspoken, silent as her breathing was just moments later. "She's going to kill herself! Sera, stop! Stop, please, please, oh gods, stop!"

I tried to pull myself back, out of Sera's arms, out of the reach of her magic, but it proved pointless, for seconds after Galen's desperate appeals, Sera was limp in my arms. Weak, burning with fever, and unresponsive; breaths as soft as silence, but alive. 

It was then a dozen guards entered the study, staring around the room at the carnage of a man torn in two, another cut nearly in half, two others fallen where they'd stood, as if they'd simply passed out, and the three of us in a pile of blood-drenched skin and gore, bruises and barely-concealed pain, on the ground. 

The guards were unsure, their eyes flickering from Sera to her father's body, then back again. I knew their confusion. They had been taught to revile Sera, but their master was dead, and she was still technically his heir. 

"Bring a healer!" I bit out, glaring up at the men and putting as much force and command into my voice as I could. "Along with three blankets. And ready a room with a large bed for us. Do it, now! You all know who this is, but I am Princess Lacy of Teren, heir to Emperor Riece of We'ren. You will do as I say, or you will be punished when my cousin and the Emperor arrive. Which they will do very soon."

The men were obedient after that, and within a few hours, Galen and I, patched up by a subpar hedge witch, both of us covered in various splints, stitches, and bandages, stared at each other above Sera's prone head. We lay in a large, overstuffed bed, completely surrounded by a thick curtain that kept the sleeping area private from the rest of the room. The curtains around the windows, and the ones around the bed, were drawn, and the fire in the hearth was roaring. 

Sera's fever had broken, returned, and broken again. The healer had shaken her head, confused by the illness.

"He's—" she began, but I cut her off with a hiss and a glare. 

"Does this _look_ like a man to you, you ignorant dung beetle? She's a _woman_. I swear to the gods, this place is—"

"Lacy, please, let the healer speak," Galen cut in gently, holding my hand and pulling me back into his lap. I let him wrap his arms around my waist, his fingers digging into the softness at my hips. My hands shook against his warm, dark skin as my mind worked its way through everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. 

I wanted to curl up under the covers, surrounded by the heat of both Galen and Sera. I wanted to hide from what had happened, what I'd seen, the horrors I knew I would be tormented with for a long time to come. But I hid the thoughts and the fear, because Sera needed me, and Galen would be alone to protect and care for her if I left him and gave into my fear. I hid the fear, the impotent rage, the overwhelming agony of helplessness that still permeated my very veins, leaving a sour taste like bile on my tongue. I hid it all deep down beneath a veneer of annoyed indifference, because no one could know how weak I felt. No one but the two I cared for more than any in the world would see the tears that even now threatened to burn from my eyes.

I tightened my grip on Galen, knowing he could take it and that he would understand my need for him in my arms, and met the healer's frightened, unsure gaze.

With my impatient nod, the healer began to speak again. 

"_She's_," she began, her eyes flicking from me to Galen, then back again before she continued. "She's not sick. She has no physical reason for the fever. It's magical, and I'm unable to heal a magical ailment."

"You're possibly the _worst_ hedge witch I've _ever_ met," I growled, and the woman fled as I began to advance on her, only to be yanked back into Galen's lap. He held me to him tightly for a moment, his lips tracing a line up my neck, his hand fisted in the robe I wore to cover my broken, bruised body. 

"Leave the poor woman alone, Lacy, and let's get in the bed with our mate. Sera will come back to us. She has to. I'll not allow any other outcome."

I nodded, shivering at the comforting feel of the hot hands that seemed to completely cover my body, and let myself be dragged back and into the bed. Galen fussed over me, ensuring I was covered and tucked in beside Sera, before he moved around and pushed in on her other side. 

Now, we lay staring over her at each other, neither of us, I was sure, knowing what to say or what to do. 

"Are you alright?" Galen rasped, his eyes on my bruised face, roving over the form of my body beneath the blankets. 

"I'm fine," I replied, knowing the words were bullshit even as I formed them. Galen's disapproving gaze had me smiling and shrugging. "I'm as fine as I'm going to be for a while. That man... he was..." I trailed off, completely unsure how to finish the sentence. The bite mark on my breast throbbed with pain as I pressed my palm to it, closing my eyes against the onslaught of fear and disgust that crawled up my spine at the idea of that man doing it to me while I was unaware and helpless. 

"Sorcerers are some of the purest evils of this world. To allow a demon to slowly devour you from the inside, so you can have power? It's the epitome of power-mad and desperate."

"So he was a sorcerer. I was trying to guess, but I wasn't sure."

"Yes. His demon wasn't very powerful, but it excelled at distraction. It kept taunting me with images of the two of you..." Galen trailed off, and I saw the fear in his eyes, remembering what the creature had said to me to taunt me, terrify me, and I reached over to card my fingers through his thick hair. 

"I understand. He did the same to me. He knew just the words to tear into me and reach my soul."

"Yes," Galen replied simply, his eyes boring into mine. "But you're alright physically? You can feel your fingers and toes, move them?"

"All six of them," I agreed jokingly and he rolled his eyes. 

"Only you would joke about something like that," a voice muttered from between us. Galen and I turned to face Sera at the same moment, both of us with desperate frustration on the tips of our tongues. Seeing the look on her face as she met my eyes, then Galen's, then turned back to me, though, had my words of censure dying on my lips. 

"You're alright, princess?" she whispered, her fingers fluttering up to trace, soft as a hummingbird's wings, along my jaw. It had been broken before, but it was one of the few things the hedge witch had been able to heal completely. Everything else she had healed just enough that I wasn't in danger of dying of shock from the pain, but otherwise I was all aches, bruises, and half-healed broken bones. 

"I'm alive, and whole, thanks to you, you stupid, stupidly selfless, idiotic, motherfuck—"

Sera's lips on mine had my mouth shutting, but only for a second before it opened back up again to devour the woman beneath me. 

My aches and pains were forgotten as I thrust my tongue into Sera's mouth, biting her bottom lip, and running my tongue along her teeth. Doing all I could to taste her and keep the taste in my mouth, my mind, and my heart, so I would never forget this moment that she had initiated contact between us. 

For the first time, _she_ had kissed _me_.

"Cain is a bad influence on you. You curse too much," Sera whispered against my lips, and I smiled. 

"It's more Riece, actually," I said as I pulled away. 

Sera turned to Galen, her head twisting on the pillow, her hair tangled against the soft cotton. Her eyes met his, and she smiled shyly. 

"I'm sorry I scared you."

"Don't do it again," he grumbled, his hand coming up to cup her face, his fingers pushing through her hair and tangling in it, to better hold her head still facing him. 

"You know I can't promise that. If it's between one of you and me, you know what my choice will be. Every time, no matter what, I'll choose to save you. You can't ask anything other from me. It would go against my very being."

"I love you, and I can't lose you," Galen bit out, his eyes wide with unshed tears as he gently bent to kiss Sera's forehead, her right cheek, then her left, before moving to kiss her lips so gently I almost couldn't tell if their skin had truly touched. "Please don't leave me, Sera. You are my life. You and Lacy... You have my soul, and if I lost one of you, I'd never recover."

"Same here," I muttered, and Galen's heated gaze on me had my very broken body somehow heating. "You're both mine, and I order you both to live very long lives. Now, let that be the end of it."

Galen barked out a laugh and leaned over Sera, kissing me with just a bit more force than he'd used on Sera, and then he was back to staring into her eyes. 

"I love you, sweet Sera. The men of your past have wronged you greatly. Let me prove to you that not all of us are monsters."

Sera's eyes filled with tears as she nodded, and Galen was kissing her again, more forcefully this time, his tongue coming out to press into her mouth. 

"And me, big guy?" I asked when Galen pulled back from Sera's mouth, his chest heaving as he stared down at her, sleepy and smiling on the bed between us. I was only half facetious, but I was also concerned. I knew he was attracted to me as his mate, he had to be, but I had finally realized, the moment I saw him through the blurry vision of my swollen eyes, half shifted and terrifying in his rage at my treatment, that I had somehow, in the mere weeks I'd known him, let him take my heart.

Galen's eyes met mine and he snorted out a laugh, rolling his eyes. "You, little one, are the queen of my heart, and you always will be. Your domineering ways might even turn me on a little bit."

I laughed, flinching when my ribs twinged. "Yeah?" I joked, and I caught Sera's eye roll. I twined my legs with hers and met Galen's eyes playfully. "Me being bossy get you off, big guy?"

Galen's laughter had me smiling broadly. I leaned gently down onto Sera, twining myself around her, my head on her shoulder, and I felt and watched as Galen did the same, both of us nearly covering Sera's body with our own. 

"Sleep now, Sera. You need to gather your strength. You used far too much of it today."

Galen's words, the raspy, grumbly tone of his voice, had me drifting to sleep much faster than I ever would have thought possible. 

SERA—

I woke between two very hot bodies, one hard and huge, the other petite, fragile, and soft. I didn't know how long I had slept, but the sleep had restored enough magic in me that I let it flow into the bodies, healing what I hadn't before, and what the other hedge witch hadn't been able to. I hadn't been awake when she'd been healing us, but I could sense her magic, like a signature, on all of our bodies. 

The ridiculous way my magic wiped hers out, as if it was jealous of her touching them when they were mine alone, struck home for me how very gone I was for the man and the woman that had stubbornly forced their way into my heart and soul. 

Galen woke first, his eyes widening when he moved and felt no pain. Then those eyes, that light color that I never could find a word for, boring into me with something like awe. 

"You shouldn't push yourself right now, Sera. Lacy and I can handle a few bumps and bruises until you are completely restored."

"I'm restored enough, and I couldn't sit by and let you both feel pain when I could so easily stop it."

Galen grunted, but he was stopped from further argument by Lacy's chittering yawn and her hand snaking out to run through his hair. 

"'ove your hair," she mumbled sleepily, rising up and pulling Galen's face down to press her lips to his. "It's thick and easy to grab."

Their lips moving just inches above mine had my body reacting. Despite my exhaustion, and despite what I had endured here in my childhood home, my body knew it wanted the two people who surrounded me, and I was finally willing to accept that. 

Just as the thought entered my mind, both Galen and Lacy turned to me, bringing their lips to mine at the same time. The three of us shared a kiss, tongues dueling, until I wasn't sure whose was whose. It was messy, it was awkward, and it was imperfect. 

But gods it was perfect despite, or because of, all of that, and I was hardening so quickly I gasped, pressing up against the blankets that covered the three of us. 

Lacy was the first to notice and she pulled away, her eyes wide with heat as she began to shove the blankets down, leaving me, to my horror, nearly naked between them. I wore a loincloth, but that was all, and it wasn't covering hardly anything, since my penis was pressing it up and away from my body.

"No!" I cried, yanking the blankets back up, my eyes flickering from Galen to Lacy. "No, we can... We can wait until dark, alright? Not... not now."

I stood, dragging the blanket with me to cover myself. It was only when I was standing outside the curtains of the bed and looked back did I realize both Galen and Lacy were stark naked, lying in the bed staring at me with varying degrees of sadness. 

I fled to the washroom I knew would adjoin the bedroom— we were in one of the guest suites of my childhood home, and they all had the same outline. I immediately splashed my face with water, trying to calm myself down, though my penis refused to settle, even pulsing and making me want to groan. I washed my teeth, tried to school my hair into some semblance of control, before taking a deep breath and exiting the washroom. 

Lacy and Galen were almost where I had left them, with one very glaring difference. 

Lacy was straddling Galen's stomach, her knees barely touching the bed on either side of him. Their mouths were locked in a passionate embrace, Galen's hands gripping Lacy's hips, his fingers meeting at the middle of her back. He thrust up against her, and I could see his hard cock, dark with a lighter pink tip, jut out from between her legs. 

I took a step back, my heart pounding as I tightened my hold on the blankets I wore like a shield around me, wondering if I should go back into the washroom until they were finished. Would they want me to leave completely, though? They had obviously gotten impatient and had decided to continue on without me. I was alright with that— I had denied them release, and so they sought it with each other. 

I was alright with that. I had to be. If I wasn't, I may lose them for my selfishness, and that I couldn't allow to happen. 

"I can hear your thoughts from here, sweet mate," Galen's voice growled, his eyes suddenly on me. "Get back here and join us. Don't make us beg."

I shook my head, taking a step back, and smiled as genuinely as I was able. 

"I'll leave you two to—"

"You finish that sentence, and I swear to the gods, I'll have you arrested, you damn stubborn woman," Lacy bit out, rising from the bed and stalking towards me, her naked body on full display. Her hips, thick and full and just the right size to grab during sex, swayed as she walked, and I couldn't help but think of a cat. Maybe she had taken more from Cain than his horrible habit of cursing like a sailor. 

Her breasts, high and pert and full enough to spill over in my palms, had my mouth watering. Her nipples were hard and peaked, gooseflesh visible around the areola and all up and down her arms. 

"Please, Lacy," I whispered, my fear at her seeing me, seeing the body I hid beneath skirts and layers of cotton, lace, and wool, rising as she pranced towards me. It heightened even more when I caught the sight of Galen unfolding himself from the bed out of the corner of my eye.

"I know you're scared," Lacy soothed, her hands outstretched towards me, as if calming a spooked horse. "And I know why you're scared. But you have to know. Sera, you have to know that Galen and I, we love you. And we love your beautiful body. You're ours. You're mine and you're Galen's, and we think you're the most gorgeous woman we've ever met. Nothing— no imperfection you perceive, nothing your mind tells you makes you lesser or undesirable, matters to either of us. We only see you, Sera. And let me fucking tell you, we _like_ what we see. We bloody fucking _love_ what we see."

"Aye," Galen growled, before stepping up beside Lacy and bending to take my mouth with his. "We gave you time in the washroom to calm down. But you're ours. And it's time to consummate that. Come back to bed, sweet mate, and let us show you how very much we _like_ what we see."


	25. Letting Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sexy times ahead. Enjoy!! <3

LACY—

Galen and I each took a hand and led Sera, silent and thoughtful, back to the bed. I knelt up on it, knee walking backward to pull Sera along with me. She resisted, and Galen stepped up behind her. 

"If you're really not ready, you can tell us, Sera," Galen said warmly, right up against Sera's ear, making her shiver with pleasure. "We'll respect that, and wait. We don't want to push you into something you don't want. But if your reluctance is that you're afraid of how _we'll_ react seeing you? You have absolutely _nothing_ to fear. Believe me, you could have three nipples and I'd suck and bite on them all."

"Not that you do have anything wrong," I cut in, glaring back at a laughing Galen. "Your body is fucking perfect."

"'Tis," Galen agreed. "An extra nipple might be a fun—"

Sera's laughter cut Galen off, and she leaned back into him with a small, relaxed smile. 

"You're both ridiculous. What did I possibly do in a past life to deserve you?"

"Being yourself, the wonderful, kind, compassionate woman we love, is enough to deserve the world, Sera," Galen said, his mouth gently pressing against the side of her neck.

Sera took in a breath, her eyes fluttering closed with pleasure as she arched her back and tilted her head to the side to grant Galen better access. 

I moved forward, gripping Sera's hands that clasped the blanket to her, and her eyes flew open. She looked at me, her mouth open, panting as her hands shook in mine. 

"Let us in," I whispered, aware of Galen's eyes on me as he nibbled against her ear. 

"What if you change your mind? What if it's too hard, and you leave me? Lacy, I can't—"

"That won't happen."

"What if... What if you see me, and I see disgust on your face? What if you react, and you can't help it, and—"

I pried Sera's fingers open, took the blanket from her, and slowly pushed it down and off of her shoulders. Her gasp of breath was harsh and loud in the silent room, but it quickly turned into a moan of pleasure as Galen's hands wound around her, holding her tight back against his body. 

"Gods, look at you, Sera. You're the most... I..." I stuttered to a stop, taking in the sight of her small, tight breasts, her nipples pointed and swollen, as if begging for my mouth, her flat belly, her full hips and thin thighs. She was thin, thinner than I'd thought with all of her skirts and frills, and there was a perfection to the way her hips curved, and her perfectly round ass had my mouth watering. 

"Goddess above, I'm the luckiest man in the world," Galen mumbled, before tilting Sera's head back and thrusting his tongue inside her mouth. 

I watched them for only a moment before I was yanking Sera's hips, pulling her onto the bed with me, pushing her down then twisting around until I was above her. 

"Whatever you're comfortable with," I said, before licking a trail down her neck, her chest, to her left nipple. Galen moved behind me, his hand trailing a line of fire up my back, before he took Sera's mouth, one of his hands gripping the side of her neck, the other sliding up and down my back. Each pass down just barely touched the top of my crack, each pass up had him squeezing my neck, pushing me down against Sera's body. 

I took Sera's nipple into my mouth, and she cried out against Galen's lips, her back arching back against the bed, her legs falling open instinctively to allow me closer to her. Her hands fisted in the sheets on either side of her head as I licked her nipple repeatedly before pulling it between my teeth and gently nibbling down on it. 

"Ah, ah Lacy!" she cried out, pulling away from Galen so she could stare down at me. 

"Feel good?"

"So sensitive," she whispered with a grimace, and I smirked. 

"Most other things between the three of us, I'll be a complete novice at. But this— _this_ I can do."

Sera nearly leapt off the bed when I lowered myself back to her other nipple, my fingers trailing down her belly. My fingers met Galen's, and both of us yanked Sera's loincloth off at the same time, my mouth never leaving her breasts. 

She garbled something inarticulately, then bit off a scream at something Galen did. I glanced up, studying her face, her eyes dazed as she stared past me, to where Galen was hard at work. She bit the edge of the sheet, her breaths heavy through her nose. I reached up and yanked the sheet out of her mouth, biting her breast just enough to draw her attention. 

"I wanna hear your pretty moans," I said before kissing her, then moving back down her body again. I glanced down at Galen, who still kept one hand on my back, to keep the connection between us, but most of his attention was on Sera's penis. 

I'd never been attracted to penises, and I knew I was biased, but gods, Sera's was pretty. Thin but long, it curved up towards her belly, with the prettiest pink tip. She was hairless— I think I'd read somewhere that the herbs she used took care of that— and her balls were just barely big enough to fit perfectly in my palm. 

My mouth watered, like it usually did when I saw nipples, or a clit, and I shivered with excitement. Sera and Galen weren't what I thought my future would hold, but they weren't lesser for that. I wanted them more than I'd ever wanted anyone else in my entire life. I didn't think that changed anything intrinsic in me. I still wasn't attracted to men, I just... I accepted that Galen was my perfect match, and he and I were made to love Sera, to be her perfect matches. 

I glanced at Sera's penis every once in a while, but for the most part it was obscured by Galen's mouth. He took it into his throat over and over again, using one hand to hold her hips down against the bed. 

I took a break from her nipples, my fingers continuing their play with them, to move up to Sera's face. I kissed her nose, then her panting mouth, before forcing her gaze up to mine. 

"What do you want, Sera? What are you comfortable with? Do you want to be inside me? In Galen? Do you want him inside you while I suck your pretty penis—" she hiccuped, and I thought I knew exactly what she'd pick. With a knowing smile, I continued, "Or do you want—"

"I want that," she cut in, her voice coming out in spurts of breath as Galen continued to bob his mouth up and down her penis. "Please, I want Galen inside me and me in your mouth. But I want..."

Sera trailed off, her eyes clenched shut as she thrust up against Galen and bit her lip to keep herself quiet. The moan she cut off was decadent and had me so wet I thought I might actually be dripping down my thighs. 

"What do you want, dear Sera? Anything. I'll give you anything. I'll do anything for you, to make you feel good."

"I want Galen inside me, and I want my... my penis inside your mouth. And I want to lick and suck you at the same time. I want to taste you, Lacy. I want to make you feel good, too, at the same time."

My hips thrust forward of their own will at her words, and I nodded dumbly, rapidly. 

"Oh gods yes," I hissed, yanking on Galen's hair. He pulled up from Sera's penis with a chuckle. 

"Our sweet mate got you too excited, princess?" Galen joked, bringing his mouth, and Sera's taste, to mine. 

"Yes," I whispered against him, my body shaking as Galen cupped my breasts in his palms and rubbed them gently, pinching my nipples between his thumb and forefinger. 

"Then let's get her ready for us, huh?"

I nodded, and we both turned back to Sera. Her eyes widened, and Galen and I broke into laughter as we pounced on the beautiful woman beneath us.

SERA—

Lacy and Galen were everywhere. Their fingers, their tongues, their lips and teeth and heat touched me and I nearly came with each brush against my sensitized skin. When Galen yanked my legs up, then lifted them above his head, nearly bending me in half, his head disappearing as Lacy watched with fascination, I covered my face with my hands. Gods, this was embarrassing. Not only were they the first people to see me naked— even Grayson had fucked me mostly dressed— but they were acting as if they were partners in crime, their only goal being getting me off. Galen's mouth on my anus had my chest rising and my arms flailing. But then Lacy was there, her hands smoothing my hair back, her lips gently pressing against my temple. 

"Shh, dear Sera," she whispered against my ear, her panting, hot breaths leaving me shivering with gooseflesh. "We've got you. Does that feel good, Galen's mouth on your pretty ass? Do you like that, his tongue inside you, making you open and ready, wet and needy for him?"

I sobbed, my penis throbbing and visibly jerking as Galen's teeth nibbled against my rim. 

"Look at that," Lacy said, her voice a sexy rumble as she reached down to put just the tip of her finger against the slit of my penis. "Your pretty clit is dancing. That's _gotta_ be feeling good to have Galen eat your hole."

Galen and I groaned at the same time, and my penis twitched against Lacy's finger. Lacy's smile became devious as she looked directly into my eyes. 

"You want me to suck your pretty clit while Galen fucks your cunt, don't you, sweet Sera?"

"Gods, your mouth," I moaned reproachfully, and Lacy laughed heartily, trailing a line down my neck, to my nipple, with her tongue. 

"You love my dirty mouth," she teased. 

"I do," I replied, without a hint of teasing, at the same time Galen pulled himself away from me and said the same. 

"I do," he grumbled, his voice deeper than I'd ever heard it, his mouth wet with his saliva. "You want a turn putting that filthy mouth to good use, little mate?"

"Oh gods yes," Lacy muttered excitedly, scrambling to take Galen's place. He kept my legs lifted, and I moved my hands back over my face as Lacy knelt and crouched, and then her mouth was on my ass instead of Galen's. And their differences were staggering. 

Galen had been gentle but insistent. Opening me with his tongue as deep inside me as he could get it, nibbling lightly, using his fingers to tease the rim. 

Lacy was ferocious right out of the gate. Before I could take a single breath, her tongue was deeper than I would have thought possible, and she was dexterously working it around the finger she'd managed to press inside me before I'd realized what she was doing. Galen kissed me, his tongue entering my mouth just as Lacy added another finger, twisting and scissoring them as she moved her tongue in and around them. Then the fingers were gone, and she was...

Oh gods. She wrapped her entire mouth around my hole and _sucked. Hard_. 

I came, my penis untouched, my screams muffled by Galen's mouth, his tongue nearly suffocating me as I gasped for breath past the pleasure that tore through me. His fingers on my nipples had the pleasure heightening, stretching out until I thought I might snap, and all the while Lacy sucked and nibbled, her fingers in and out, in and out. 

I sobbed and fell back against the bed, my chest heaving as my legs trembled in Galen's grip. 

"Look at you," Galen murmured against my cheek, his mouth licking at every bit of me he could find. "Look at you, my gorgeous mate, all fucked out with just your ass being eaten by our mate. We didn't even touch your clit, and you came so hard."

I cried out as an aftershock went through me at his words. Lacy lifted herself up, keeping her hand down at my ass, three fingers now pressing in and out, spreading the oil I couldn't even remember her retrieving. 

"You like dirty talk a lot, don't you, Sera?"

"Feels so good," I mumbled dumbly, no words coming to mind but those. 

"I know, sweetheart," Lacy smiled, then she and Galen were sharing a kiss, before she turned back to me again. "You gonna be alright to take Galen now, or should we wait a little while? I know some people get really sensitive post orgasm."

"I'll be alright." I looked up at Galen and smiled. "Please, I want to feel you inside me."

"Yes, Sera. Anything. Everything you want, I'm yours."

Lacy handed Galen a bottle of oil after dripping some into her own hands, and he poured it into his palms before reaching down to coat my hole with it. Lacy knee-walked forward and grabbed Galen's cock, her eyes mischievous as she gripped him, her hand working up and down to spread the oil, her palm twisting as she reached the head and making him moan and thrust his hips forward. 

"I'm going to have fun exploring this new facet of my sexuality," Lacy teased as she finally pulled from Galen. Galen shivered but nodded.

"My body is yours to do with as you please, princess," he said, his expression and voice serious and intense. 

Lacy smiled and yanked his head down for a fierce kiss. "Yes it is," she replied, before reaching back out and gripping his cock at the base. She led him forward gently and I groaned at the sight as she pointed his cock at my entrance, pressing the head to my hole, before pulling back. 

Galen's cock against my anus had me crying out, my back arching as he began to press into me gently, slowly, his eyes never leaving mine. Lacy was there, just beside me, her hands smoothing the hair back from my face, her fingers digging pleasurably into my scalp. Galen dug himself inside me, gently, slowly, but relentlessly. I arched my back, my ass on fire at his size, at the body-shattering, inexorable press into my insides.

The moment Galen was completely inside, his balls pressed tightly against my ass, I heard Lacy cry out. I looked up, my belly clenching in pleasure at the sight of Galen crouching over me, one of his hands gripping my thigh to keep my leg up and out of his way, the other pressed against Lacy's groin. His fingers danced against her vagina, his palm pressed against her mound. Lacy gripped his arm, her fingernails digging into his skin as she humped against his hand and fingers. 

"Oh gods, yes," she moaned, just as Galen pulled back and moved inside me again. I grunted, moaning at the burn that slowly, as he began to thrust over and over, turned into a thick pressure at the base of my spine, and a pleasure I was barely able to contain. 

"Lacy," I gasped, reaching for her, my eyes burning. "Please, I want you. Want you in my mouth."

Lacy nodded frantically as Galen pulled his hand from her and moved it to my other hip. His thrusts remained steady, gripping my hips in his gentle hands. My legs wrapped around his back to tie at my ankles just as Lacy bent to kiss me, sweetly, gently, then she was turning her back to me and lifting a leg to straddle me. 

"This alright?" she asked with a smirk, and I nodded, unable to make anything but inarticulate moans. 

I looked up and my mouth watered at the sight of Lacy's vagina, just inches from my mouth. I reached up, my arms wrapping around her thighs and hips, and pulled her into a lower crouch. I opened my mouth and gently licked up, from her hole to her clit, swollen and almost visibly throbbing for attention. 

The noise Lacy made was almost otherworldly, and I smiled against her skin as I licked over and over, each time just barely flicking her clit with the tip of my tongue before retreating. Soon, she was thrusting against my mouth, her moans above me rising into a fever pitch. Every once in a while, the sounds would grow muffled, and the soft, wet sounds of kisses would ring out, and I knew she and Galen were tongue-to-tongue. 

Galen paused in his moves, yanking my hips up so I was practically sitting in his lap, impaled on his cock, and just as he began to thrust again, a searing, wet heat covered the head of my penis and I screamed against Lacy's sensitive skin.

"Oh gods, Sera, scream for me. That felt so good, your mouth vibrating against me. Gods, you're going to make me come. Soon. I'm going to..." Lacy trailed off as I began to focus more on her clit, my tongue flicking it back and forth, my face completely pressed into her, my teeth occasionally biting down to nibble delicately on her most tender flesh. 

"Yes, Sera, yes, please, oh gods," Lacy cried out, and then her screams were muffled as she yanked herself up above me, grinding down on me, and came, Galen's mouth pressed tightly to hers. 

She fell limp against me, her hot breath on my penis and Galen's constant thrusts making me twitch and the pressure at my spine tighten into a knot of agony. I continued to lick her, more gently now, cleaning her cunt of her juices as she nearly dripped with her arousal. My hands rubbed her ass and back soothingly, moving down to grip her hips and thighs before going back up, bringing her down from her orgasm as gently as I was able. 

Then her mouth was back on my penis, wet and hot and tight and I couldn't help but thrust up against her. I heard her gag, the sound somehow exciting me more, but just as I pulled away from her to apologize, she laughed. 

"Don't you dare apologize, Sera. My body is yours, and it knows it. I can take, and I want, whatever you can give me."

LACY—

Our first lovemaking was almost a blur. Of pleasure, of biting orgasms, one after another. I came three times with Sera's tongue, teeth, and lips against my intimate skin as I kept her penis warm and alive in my own mouth. Galen's thrusts inside of Sera were nearly constant. Every time I glanced up at him, when he would rub his fingers down my face in an intimate, endearing gesture, or when he'd let out a particularly debauched moan, he was covered in sweat that glistened against his dark skin. 

I lifted my hands up and twisted and rubbed his nipples, making him shudder against Sera's body, and I knew he was close. I'd come multiple times, but both Sera and Galen would be resigned to only one orgasm at a time. 

Oh, the curse of being born with a penis. 

Finally, what felt like hours after we had first come together, our bodies finally aligning as they'd been meant to from the first time we met as three, Sera's penis in my mouth began to noticeably swell and twitch. Her moans and gasps against me heightened and she thrust up, making me gag, but I kept her in my mouth, my fingers toying with her balls as Galen's abdomen pressed up against my head and I curled tighter around Sera's body. 

Sera came with a gasp and a cry, her fingers digging into my ass, her head jerking back to slam against the pillow beneath her. I twisted away from her, pulling my body from around her head and kept my lips locked around her penis. I'd never tasted semen before, but I knew I'd be able to stomach Sera's without issue. She was, after all, the first woman I'd ever, and would ever, forever, for the rest of my life and beyond, love. 

Just as Sera's cum hit my tongue, Galen began to groan, his thrusts becoming jerky and erratic. I swallowed Sera down, smiling as she gasped and sobbed as my fingers continued to play with her tight balls, drawing her orgasm out until she was nearly crying with it. Galen's moans grew loud and I glanced up, pulling Sera's semi-hard penis from my mouth to lift my lips to Galen's. He met my mouth, immediately tasting Sera on my tongue and growling into my mouth as he licked at my tongue, his teeth nibbling at my lips as he ground his groin up against Sera's ass. 

"_Bistya._" He groaned out what sounded like an Akari swear word against my mouth, and I pulled away, smiling up at him. He grimaced at me, and I noticed something else was happening I hadn't before. He was grinding up against Sera hard, his hands clutching her hips, her stomach, holding her to him as if he couldn't get close enough. And then Sera was coming again, her back bowed against the bed, her eyes clenched shut, her hands clenched into the sheets around her head, her penis twitching wildly but not releasing any cum, and her mouth wide in a soundless scream. 

"Oh fuck," I murmured, soothing a hand down Sera's stomach, then back up, cupping her breasts in my hands, her neck, then her sweet face. "Is he knotting you, dear Sera?"

Sera's body fell limp as her penis jerked one final time, and I licked her ear, pushing myself behind her to try to hold her against me, calm her as she and Galen waited through his knot. 

"Oh goddess, Sera, you feel so good," Galen moaned, his head thrown back, his eyes closed, and his body completely still as he held Sera against him with white-knuckled fingers. 

"Hmm," I said, looking Galen up and down, then turning to Sera, who was panting, her eyes wide now, staring up at me as her body began to twitch. "That looks like it feels amazing. I can't wait to try it."

With my words, Galen groaned and jerked his hips, and Sera gripped me tightly to her, her body convulsing as she came again, her penis untouched, Galen's prick pressing up against her sweet spot inside her ass and making her nearly incoherent with pleasure. 

GALEN—

Seeing my mates together was one of the sexiest, most beautiful sights I had ever seen. Sera, all hesitant touches, gentle kisses, and whimpering moans, and Lacy— demanding, dominant, and with words and a mouth that had my cock throbbing with each word. 

Assuring Sera of our love and attraction to her was a treat both Lacy and I dove into heads first, without a second thought. Sera was a willing, moaning puddle in our hands and against our mouths, and Lacy and I shared a few smiles and heartfelt looks, gentle kisses, as we plied our mate with as much pleasure as she could bear. 

Watching Lacy come on Sera's tongue, over and over again, as I moved inside my beautiful mate's body outshone even the pleasure I felt. Watching them, Lacy curled around Sera's body, her back arched, her hips thrusting against Sera's face, her hair hanging down around Sera's and my groins as if shrouding where we were intimately connected, I felt something inside of me, deep within the recesses of my soul, crying out in joy. 

Finally. Finally, they were mine, and they had accepted me, and this... This was how we were meant to be, and how we would be for the rest of our lives. 

_Thank you, goddess_, I silently prayed as I ran my fingers through Lacy's hair, pulling just gently enough so her eyes met mine. She deliberately reached up and flicked and twisted at my nipples, sending shots of heated, sharp pleasure down my chest and directly into the pit of my stomach. I gasped, my thrusts into Sera's hole faltering, just as Sera's pelvis hipped up against Lacy's mouth, making our princess gag. 

My stomach pressed against Lacy's curls, the heat of her head against my skin making my eyes roll back as her entire body visibly tightened around Sera, her mouth lowering over Sera's groin, her nose digging into the skin of Sera's balls. Lacy's gagging, wet sounds were nearly drowned out by Sera's screams as our usually quiet, pensive mate, her fingers digging into Lacy's ass so hard I was sure they would leave bruises, came hard into our princess's mouth. 

Sera's convulsing body shook, her toes clenching behind me, her legs twisting around my body and yanking me against her, and her hole sporadically tightening and releasing my cock, milking it as her back arched. Lacy immediately pulled away from Sera's mouth, and I looked down to see my beautiful mate, her face wet with Lacy's arousal, her eyes wild, open and filled with the green light of her magic as she lost all control. Her fingers were clenched in the blankets, her chest heaving, and her balls visibly tightening as Lacy swallowed around our mate, over and over again, as Sera emptied into her mouth. 

The sight had me grinding out my pleasure, my orgasm hitting me like a loadstone as I slammed myself into Sera's body. My cock thickened as my balls constricted, pouring myself into Sera, marking her as mine in every way. Sera's nearly sobbing ecstasy had me glancing down, only to be met with Lacy's lips crashing up against mine. My orgasm heightened, my entire body afire as Lacy shared Sera's taste with me, her tongue dueling with mine, Sera's cum like a fire poker against the heat of my ecstasy. 

I growled, nipping at Lacy's lips as my bear rose up, the taste of both of my mates on my tongue as my seed emptied into one the most perfect moments for my possessive beast. 

"_Bistya_," I bit out as I pushed my bear back, feeling him just beneath my skin, clawing his way to try to get to my mates, mark them, bite them, show them they were mine. He would have to be content with the knot I could feel forming as my orgasm began to ebb and flow, my cum held in Sera's hole only by the stopper of my cock. I ground against her, and felt her body relax against mine, letting me in, allowing the intrusion of my beast in the way only she and Lacy ever could. 

Lacy smiled up at me for a moment, satisfaction and contentment heavy in her eyes, before her gaze flickered down to where Sera and I were still joined and where my knot was nearly at its full size inside of her tight, searing hole. 

I continued to press myself against Sera, reaching out to pull her against me, my fingers digging into her skin as I ensured my cock was as deep inside of her as possible. It was an overwhelming, deep need to feel her all around me, feel her heat digging into my skin. I wanted inside her, deep as I could. I wanted to feel every bit of her, to taste and touch and smell and spend the rest of my life just like this— with either Lacy or Sera hanging off of my cock, their bodies sated and content, their cum against my tongue and on my skin. 

Lacy's eyes, fixated on my cock in Sera's hole, lit with understanding, then excitement, as Sera's body tightened around mine again. I grunted and flinched as Sera came around me again, her entire body convulsing, her penis twitching dryly and her balls clenching. Her breath came from her in pained gasps, wordless and soundless. 

"Oh fuck," Lacy nearly whispered, her hands against Sera's skin, soothing her and massaging her skin to try to calm her. She moved behind her, propping herself against the headboard with Sera in her lap, and I held as still as I could as my knot finally stopped pulsing and Sera's body began to calm and she let herself fall back against Lacy, boneless with exhaustion. 

"Is he knotting you, dear Sera?"

"Oh goddess, Sera, you feel so good," I whimpered pitifully as Sera's hole, so stretched around my cock it was almost painful, tightened around my knot and had me clenching my fingers against Sera. Our mate was going to have both my and Lacy's fingerprints all over her skin, I knew, but I couldn't force myself to loosen my grip on her. Aftershocks rose up my spine, my sensitive knot caught right up against the outer muscles of Sera's ass, making my eyes water with how tender the sensitive bit of my body was. 

Lacy made a soft, sexy, alluring sound, and I glanced down, my hips jerking, pushing at Sera against my will and a harsh sound leaving my lips at the sight of my two mates sharing a long, heated look as Lacy's words fell from her mouth. 

"That looks like it feels amazing. I can't wait to try it."

Sera held onto Lacy as if she were her lifeline, her fingernails digging against Lacy's arms and her back as she came again at my involuntary movement, her mouth opening and closing as she helplessly writhed against me, her spent penis spitting out the smallest drop of cum as she whimpered and cried against Lacy's skin. Her mouth was plastered to Lacy's collar bone, her teeth and tongue nibbling and painting Lacy with her desperate, aching pleasure. 

I met Lacy's eyes and nearly came again at the heated promise there. Her words weren't only said in the passion of the moment. She wanted me, wanted my cock and my knot inside of her, and someday, that pleasure and honor would be mine.

Until then, it was nothing less than the greatest pleasure of my life to share this experience only with my beautiful mate Sera. Just so long as I didn't move again, because I was wholly unsure if she would enjoy another orgasm. The last one had looked almost more painful than not. 

My mates cuddled and held each other, Lacy whispering sweet words into Sera's ear, and Sera's fingers moving in dancing, soothing patterns against Lacy's arms that were wrapped around her chest and stomach. Lacy ran her toes up and down my stomach, keeping her skin against mine and calming me with her heat, as I kept my body tight around and against Sera. 

Every once in a while, Sera would twitch involuntarily and I would groan at the feel of her hole milking my prick and knot, but neither of us came again, thank the gods. It was nearly twenty minutes, lying naked and covered in cum and sweat, before my knot shrunk so I could gently pull myself from Sera's body and fall down nearly atop my two mates. The two women who were born for me to find. The only humans in existence made just for me, and I for them.


	26. Unto Eternity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *****Alright, all, this is the last chapter, then two epilogues. Enjoy!*****

LACY-

Both Galen and Sera fell to sleep immediately after Galen's prick finally calmed enough that he could pull himself from her body and collapse beside us, but I stayed awake, knowing I had far too much to do to indulge in lying in bed with them all day. But I gave myself a few moments, just a little longer bit of time to hold them, feel their bodies beside mine, just as we were meant to be. 

Galen was a like a giant hearth, his big, rumbling breaths like a lullaby, trying to lull me to sleep, and Sera, usually curled in on herself, defensive even in sleep, had her legs wrapped around him, her limp penis pressed against his hip, her face smashed into his ribs. She was smiling, and my heart gave a pang to see it. I had never seen her with that smile- content, warm, sated. But I swore I would see it every day and night for the rest of my life. I would ensure she slept up against Galen, with me wrapped around her, until we took our last breaths. 

I lay atop Galen, between his legs, my head against his stomach, my arm wrapped around Sera's leg and hips. We were a strange, sticky, sated pile, and I prayed to both Eses and Ravin, the gods of my mates, that I would wake this way every morning unto eternity. 

A soft knock on the door alerted me to Lhiam and Riece's summons, so I moved as quickly as I was able, peeling myself from Galen's skin and away. One of his eyes slid open sleepily, and he reached for me, but I shushed him and smiled.

"Lhiam and Riece need me. I'll be back as soon as I am able. Take care of our mate, alright?"

Galen frowned grumpily, his eye shutting against the light of the fire, and I smiled at the almost childish move from such a large man. 

"Hurry back," he mumbled, digging his face into Sera's thick head of hair and pulling her closer to him. I smiled, pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, and made my way to the washroom. I washed and dressed quickly, wearing the clothes the servants had tracked down for me when Lhiam and Riece first came into the castle, while Sera still slept. 

They had arrived only a few hours after our altercation with the mercenary, Grayson, and Duke Spencer, terrifying every servant and guard in the castle by arriving with nearly fifty heavily armed soldiers, a huge cougar, a wolf, and a brown bear that was so large its head towered over the horses that followed behind it with terror in their eyes. The shifters all walked ahead of the soldiers on horseback, led by Riece and Lhiam, and it sent a chill down even my spine seeing the animals looking so fierce and angry, stomping their way through the town's roads until they shouldered their way past the castle gate.

I quickly left Galen watching over Sera, ordered the servants to find me a dress, any dress, I cared not, and they scrambled to obey. Soon, covered in bruises and bandages, I was running out to greet my cousin and the Emperor. 

When they saw me, though, taking in the rat's nest my hair had become, the servant's smock I wore, my bare, dirty and bloody feet, and the various injuries on my person, both Riece and Lhiam's faces' darkened into thundercloud scowls. Cain hissed at me, the sound terrifying from the maw of a cat as large as he was, making a few of the servants and guards behind me cry out, and moved forward so quickly I didn't even catch the movement. His nose dug into my ribs, a deep growl vibrating through my skin. 

"I'm alright, Cain. My mates saved me just in time."

Cain's huge eyes met mine, and I smiled, trying to reassure him. Then I was inundated with Lhiam, Riece, and a very upset wolf, his tail between his legs, his ears flat back against his head. I greeted each in turn, petting Edon's head gently, trying to assure him I was alright. His nose dug into my belly, so gently I barely felt it, before looking up at me with a tilted head, and I knew what he was asking as if he had spoken the question aloud. 

I knelt in front of him, my hands digging into the thick fur at his nape, and dug my face into his neck. 

"I'm alright. A little bruised, but otherwise they didn't touch me. I promise."

Edon whined deep in his throat, sighing softly, and then Lhiam was pulling me to my feet. With one final look at me, both Cain and Edon moved back to the brown bear. Riece's head huntsman was absolutely huge in his bear form. I had seen it a few times, but never this close. I waved at him, and he huffed out a greeting, bowing his head down just a bit, before turning to the short, dark-haired man at his side. I waved at River, the brown bear's mate, and he smiled widely and returned the greeting. 

I nodded and waved at a few more of the soldiers, all of whom I knew from either Lhiam's or Riece's households, and finally turned back to Lhiam and Riece.

"I'm alright. Sera healed me for the most part, and the Ruleden hedge witch, though incompentent to the extreme, did most of the rest." I paused, watching both Lhiam and Riece's faces to gauge their reactions. "The Duke is dead. I killed him when he tried to kill me."

"You don't have to lie for Galen. He was protecting both you and Sera by killing the Duke," Lhiam said in confusion. Of course, knowing I was lying by the way I spoke, because Lhiam had been able to read my godsdamned mind since I was a child, he would assume Galen had killed the man. For what other option was there? No one would possibly look at Sera and think she could kill a man. 

I shook my head and sighed, staring directly into his eyes, willing him to understand. "It's not Galen I'm protecting," I stated, turning from one man to the other. "Can we speak more later? I'm anxious to return."

Riece nodded and, so gently I smiled and rolled my eyes at his care, he pulled me into his arms for a quick hug. He himself was injured, though he looked much better than when I'd last seen him, falling beneath one of the mercenary's blades as he tried to reach me. 

"I'm so glad you're safe. I'm sorry Sami and I weren't more able to—“

"Sami!" I cried, looking around and not seeing the petulant cat. My heart dropped as I remembered the last time I had seen him, covered in blood, fighting to get to me. "Is he alright?"

"Sera healed him before she left," Lhiam explained, pulling me from Riece's arms and into his own. "Silvia is with him now. He'll be just fine. He was... ah, very angry we wouldn't let him come."

I chuckled, then pulled away and moved back. "Ruleden is yours. Give me a few hours with Galen and Sera, and I'll join you for whatever you need."

"Take the time," Riece muttered, glaring at the servants and guards, all standing behind me with confusion, curiosity, and fear shining through on each of their expressions. "We'll summon you when you're needed."

Now, I made my way back through the halls of the castle Sera had spent her childhood, following the woman Lhiam and Riece had sent to retrieve me, trying to concentrate on what I knew was coming. Ruleden was rightfully Sera's, but I knew she had no intentions of becoming the Duchess of the place that hated her very existence. No, she would turn down the duchy, had turned it down multiple times. Even if she wasn't going to be my wife, she would be Lhiam's hedge witch until her death before she would take over for Ruleden. 

"You will meet with resistance," were Lhiam's first words as I entered the warm, bright study the nervous servant had led me to. I looked around, noting the tapestries on every wall, and the half dozen windows open to the morning sun. I had no idea how much time had passed since I had been taken, since we had awaited Sera's waking, and how long we spent in each other's arms, but it was now late morning, nearly noontime by the sun's position, and it shone through the open windows and warmed me. 

"I know," I replied, moving to Cain, who stood near one of the windows, wearing all black, glaring me down with his usual scowl. He leaned down to sniff my hair, then hugged me tightly, his heavily muscled arms making me flinch as he held me too tight. 

"I'm alright, Cain," I promised, digging my face into his neck as he lifted me from my feet in his embrace. "I swear to you, they barely touched me."

"The bruises on your face and body, and the blood on your skin, told a different story, brat," he grumbled in his deep, rumbling voice. 

"I mean, yes," I replied with a laugh as he set me down, held me at arm's length, and studied me. 

"I see Sera's been hard at work," he said as he ran a finger down my cheek, noting the lack of injury. 

"Good as new," I said, waggling my eyebrows. Cain rolled his eyes, then bent to dig his nose into my neck. I laughed and pushed at his head, rolling my eyes when he frowned. 

"So you and the bear finally claimed your woman," he said, and I could hear Lhiam's heavy intake of breath as I laughed again. 

"Not that it's _any_ of your business, but yes, we finally convinced Lady Stubborn to be ours."

"It only took you getting kidnapped to do it," Riece muttered, and I glared back at him, turning away from Cain. 

"Zip it, Riece. You're not really one to talk. How long did it take you to convince Lord Stubborn that you were his?"

Riece rolled his eyes, but he rose and pulled me into an embrace, followed immediately after by Lhiam, then Edon. I grasped Edon to me, feeling him shudder in my arms, and smiled up at him. He wasn't that much taller than me, so I could meet his eyes almost head on as I assured him, again, that I hadn't been hurt further than physically. With the horrors of Edon's past, I knew he would need the extra reassurance from me that the men hadn't raped me while I'd been held here by them. 

"Riece was met with very little resistance when he married Cain, but there were still dissenters, people angry he was marrying not only a man, but a foreigner." I turned back to watch as Edon sat back in Lhiam's lap, his head dipping down to rest on the bigger man's shoulder, as Lhiam spoke. "You'll be wanting to marry not only two people, but a foreign man, and a woman who was born a man. On top of that, you'll be the first Empress the We'ren Empire has ever seen."

"I know all of this. Do you think I shouldn't fight for my own happiness, then, cousin?"

"Not at all," Lhiam grunted, shaking his head. "I want you to know, officially and on the record, that no matter what, I and my men are at your command. For Teren, at least, you need not worry about loyalty."

My eyes heated with unshed tears and my knees wobbled as both Edon and Lhiam smiled at me, their expressions twins of joy and pride. 

"Thank you," I croaked out, shaking my head, unsure how to reply. Of course, I had known they would stand by me, but the earnestness, the devotion in his words; I wanted to cry.

"Enough of politics," Riece muttered, waving his hand as if to push the idea away. "Lacy and I will figure all of that out; we already had a plan in place if she was able to woo Sera, we just need to add Galen into the equation. By the time she's Empress, the people will have come to accept her mates, and her, just as they have mine and me. Now, Lacy, tell us what happened. Why did you lie and say you killed the Duke? I saw the decimation in that room. We all know who killed the unknown man, he was torn in two, but both Sir Grayson and Duke Spencer were felled without a scratch on them. How did they die?"

I grimaced, but moved to the table near the unlit hearth, sitting and reaching for the bread and meats set out there. While I ate, I recounted what had happened— how I had been taken, how the young man had given me his shirt— I left out the bite on my breast, fully healed now, though the spot still felt dirty and aching, as if I could feel it though it was gone from view. I told them of how I had been brought to the room, how I found out that they had taken me rather than Sera by mistake, and about the Duke beating me. Both Edon and Cain growled at this part, but I pushed through, telling them about Sera and Galen coming into the room, then Sera's inexplicable dark magic and the way the Duke and Grayson had simply fallen dead, as if their hearts had just given out on them.

"I haven't spoken to Sera, but I think we shouldn't let it be widespread that she has that kind of power. It's a dangerous magic, and people fear what they don't understand. There's no reason that anyone but the five of us, and my mates, should know what she's fully capable of."

"I met a hedge witch with that power, once," Cain said, moving to stand behind Riece, his hand on his husband's shoulder. "When I was still in Akar. She said that all hedge witches were capable of it, but to actually kill with it took power most didn't have, so most hedge witches didn't know they could do it. And it wasn't a skill passed down, like the healing arts are. If they were weaker, it would only take the strength, the vitality from their enemies. Some, she said, even did it in times of danger without realizing it, slowing down and discomfiting their opponents. 

"She told me that in all things, especially in magic, where there is one side of the spectrum, there has to be the opposite. Where there is dark, there is light. Where there is the ability to give and sustain life, there has to be the opposite, the ability to end and take life. The fact that Lady Sera can heal as powerfully as she does is an indicator of how powerful the opposite would be. When I first met her, and learned how much she was truly able to heal, I had wondered, but I never asked."

I frowned, turning back to Lhiam. "You spoke of the Duke, Grayson, and the mercenary, but you said nothing of the boy the mercenary killed. Did you move his body?"

Lhiam's brows met and he turned to Riece. "I didn't see a boy, only the three men. Riece?"

"I saw no one but those three, Lacy," Riece replied, turning from Lhiam to me with a frown of concern. "Maybe he wasn't really dead?"

"Oh, he was definitely dead," I replied, shaking my head. "The mercenary cut him nearly in half. I watched him die. Maybe the servants came and took him?"

"I'll ask around. If he was one of their own, they may have taken him for burial."

"Maybe," I replied, but I wasn't convinced. I knew I'd seen the boy die. I'd thought to give him a burial myself, give him a king's resting place for the kindness he showed me, and for his actions that saved Sera. But what could have happened to his body? I knew the servants hadn't taken him, they would have been too terrified to go into the room after we left the carnage behind us, and he was the mercenary's blood slave, so he wasn't one of theirs. 

So where was he?

SERA-

This time, I woke with only one hot body wrapped around me, though the other I spotted quickly, for she was what had woken me. She moved into the room as I sat up, wearing a servant's smock, her feet bare, her hair only a bit more tamed than the last I'd seen it, and a soft, gentle smile on her face. 

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," she murmured, pushing the door shut behind her with her foot. Her hands were laden with a tray filled with breads, eggs, meats, and cheeses. There were grapes on one side, and a large pitcher on the other. 

"Oh!" I cried, jumping up, trying hard to ignore my discomfort at my nakedness, and moved to help her set the heavy tray on the large table near the hearth. Galen grunted when my elbow jabbed into his belly, then sat up, rubbing his eyes, watching us as I helped Lacy. 

"Now that's a wonderful sight to wake up to," Galen grumbled, his voice sleep-rough and soft. I turned to him, blushing as I noted his eyes were fixated on my ass. 

"Mmm," Lacy agreed once the tray was out of her arms. Her hand snaked out to rub around my hips, squeezing my ass in her small palm, making me groan as my penis twitched at the attention. I could see Galen's prick tenting the blankets as he sat up, watching me and Lacy as she moved into my arms, reaching up to kiss me. Her other arm wrapped around me, grabbing my other ass cheek. I whimpered when she pulled them apart, baring me open for Galen's gaze. 

"Goddess, my women are gorgeous," he groaned, moving to stand, throwing the blankets off of his naked form. 

Lacy laughed and pulled away from me. I had to fight the urge to push back into her, beg her for attention, for kisses, for anything she was willing to give me.

"You both need to eat. You have to be starving. Come, I brought as much as I could carry. Which, admittedly, is not much, so we can call for more if you need."

"It looks like plenty," I said, pressing a kiss to her cheek, just next to her eye, and moving back, covering my half-hard penis with my hands.

"Speak for yourself," Galen said, moving towards us, naked as the day he was born and without a care in the world. I looked him up and down, my mouth watering when my gaze landed on his hard prick, pointing up towards his belly button. Goddess, I'd had that inside me, and he was huge. "I've gotta eat tons to keep my figure pretty for my girls."

Lacy burst out laughing, and I rolled my eyes as I moved to the washroom. I could hear them chattering and joking as I washed my face and teeth, blushing heavily when I had to reach back and clean my backside of Galen's spend. I brushed my hair, then slipped a robe I found in a small closet in the washroom over myself and returned to the bedroom. Galen and Lacy looked up at me as I entered. 

Galen was still naked, his dick now only half-hard, his eyes dancing with laughter at something Lacy had just finished saying. I moved to them, bending to kiss Galen's lips, then leaning over to do the same to Lacy's, before sitting in my own chair. 

"Well good morning," Lacy said, smiling at my affectionate gestures. I could feel my blush heating my cheeks, and I looked down at my lap, embarrassed that I was so inexperienced in such things. 

"Good morning," I replied as I began to pull a few bread rolls and bits of fruit onto my plate. 

"How are you feeling?" Galen asked, his eyes roving my body. I blushed even deeper, knowing he was referring to our lovemaking, and smiled. 

"I'm alright."

"No pain?" he asked, his hand coming out to grab mine. I looked down at our hands, his big, scarred, and calloused, and mine work-roughened but with thin, delicate fingers. 

"I'm a little sore, but that's to be expected."

Galen nodded and pulled back with a smile. 

"We should talk," Lacy began, and my heart rate tripled. It couldn't be something bad, could it? She couldn't have changed her mind? Heard something from Riece or Lhiam that had her reconsidering our relationship? 

"Stop it, Sera," Lacy bit out just as Galen's hand covered mine again. "It's nothing awful, I just think there are things we should say aloud. Like this, I'll go first. I love you both. Sera, I've loved you since I was old enough to know what it was. And Galen, gods you were a surprise, and it's newer, but it's definitely there, and it's just as powerful. I want to marry you both, I want you to move to the capital with me, and I want you as my consorts when I'm Empress."

Galen cackled and Lacy glared at him, her brows raised. 

"Goddess, but I love you. Yes, Lacy, I will marry you, I will be your consort, I will live where you want, and I will be by your side for the rest of your life. My heart and life is yours. My very soul belongs to the two of you, and I give it willingly." 

I paused when both of their gazes met mine, my insecurities, my fears, all of the reasons I should say no just there, on the tip of my tongue. But I rolled my eyes and dropped my forehead to the table.

"Sera," Lacy whispered, her words careful, perfectly articulated. "I know you are worried about how you and Galen will fit into my life, but I promise you, I _promise you_, I'll find a way to make it work. Riece and I already have plans, and contingency plans, and contingency plans on top of those. He and I have been preparing for this, for you, since the day I walked away from Teren. Adding Galen in will be a perk, but one that's fairly easily done. But everything else, it's all figured out already. I'll take care of you, I swear it. For the rest of my life, I'll take care of you."

"I give up," I mumbled, digging my forehead further into the cold of the table as my entire body flamed with heat at my own words. "You win. You both... Gods, you win. I'm yours, both of yours, forever. Just... don't leave me, alright?"

Before I could take another breath, Galen's arms were wrapped around me from behind, Lacy was on her knees in front of me, her arms tight around my waist and her head pressed against my stomach. 

"You're ours," Lacy growled into my stomach. 

"We'll never let you go," Galen vowed into my hair. 

I sighed, took a deep breath, and smiled. 

"Empress Consort Sera has a nice sound to it," I muttered, and I was shaken on both ends by both Galen and Lacy's laughter. Then Lacy was pressing kisses to my neck, Galen's teeth were against my shoulder, and I sighed with joy. 

_I'm safe. Forever and always, I'm safe with them_, I thought as I turned back to Galen and pressed my lips to his, Lacy's mouth joining ours in a perfectly imperfect melding of mouths. _I'm safe with them._


	27. Epilogue One: Vows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *****Huge shout out/thank you to my two betas!!! ATel2018 & Everlasting_Stardust. You guys are the best, and TSBTS wouldn't be the same book it is without you. Thank you! <3<3<3<3*****

GALEN—

The rain pattering outside our window kept me awake despite the warmth of my mates, both asleep in my arms. Lacy, as always, had her right arm wrapped around my stomach, her and Sera's hands clasped atop my chest. Their fingers were entwined, their palms clasped, and each had their noses pressed up against my skin, their faces smashed against me. It was an adorable habit both had—pressing their faces against me as they slept— and it was one I would never tell them about, for fear they somehow might stop doing it out of embarrassment. Especially my Sera, who would cut her nose from her face if she thought it was unappealing to either Lacy or myself. 

Our legs were tangled together, someone's between my thighs, though I wasn't sure if it was Lacy's or Sera's, someone's hand poking into my back, and Sera's freezing toes digging into my lower leg. 

"Goddess, woman, your feet could freeze the sun," I had groaned only the day before as she dug her toes beneath my thighs. We sat on the couch in our sitting room after dinner, our bellies full, Sera sipping her tea and reading a novel Lacy had given her and told her to read. It was, Lacy had said, been written by a man who, like Sera, had been born one gender, and chosen to live as another. Lacy had admitted, much to her embarrassment and Sera's amazement, that she'd read dozens of novels and scrolls in the years since she'd met Sera written by or about people like Sera. Men or women who had faced obstacles and fierce hatred to live and love the way they felt they were born to. 

It had taken nearly twenty minutes for Lacy to get Sera to stop crying, and by then she was mewling and crying out Lacy's name instead. She had then demanded that Lacy bring her every scroll and book she could remember having read, and Sera had since then been pouring through them. 

I wondered if it had ever occurred to Sera to look up people like her. To make her feel a little less alone. To assure herself that she wasn't alone; that though she was a unique woman for many reasons— her kindness and gentleness despite great loss being one reason she stood out above all others— there were others out there like her. Others who had felt her pains and knew her joys. Others who could empathize with her and whom she could look to and maybe see a bit of herself. 

Sera had immediately blushed after my words about her cold feet, trying to pull her legs out from beneath mine, but I yanked them back and scowled at her.

"That wasn't leave to move, mate. Only a statement of fact," I muttered as I took one of her finely boned feet in my hands and began to press my fingers into it. She moaned, tilting her head back and making me lick my lips at the sight of her smooth, strained neck. I wanted to bite it, suck up marks on it so the librarian who'd been staring at her ass as she walked by earlier would have no thoughts in his head but that she belonged to _me_. 

Now, her small toes digging into my legs for warmth in her sleep, I smiled at the memory and pulled her a little closer. Always cold, my Sera, and she needed the warmth more now, since she wore not a lick of clothing. Lacy and I had taken care of that the moment we'd stepped foot into our bedroom after dinner the night before. 

Lacy had spent the better part of the day in meetings, and Sera, much to her annoyance, had spent hers with the wedding planners. Since I wasn't familiar with We'ren wedding traditions, and Lacy was too busy with the Emperor and his meetings and training, Sera had been shouldered with the wedding planning, though she'd complained every step of the way. Lacy had even hired two event planners, and Sera's only duty was to agree or disagree on colors and ideas, but having the responsibility on her shoulders was draining her. 

"Lacy and I will love it, no matter what you choose, Sera," I'd told her, nuzzling into her neck and taking a deep breath of her scent. She leaned back into me, her eyes darting to the man and woman who were hired to help her plan the wedding. 

Sera was still wary about public displays of our relationship, especially when Lacy tried to reach out to her in front of others, but we were wearing her down. The cheers of the people around us when Lacy had announced our engagement had helped that, I thought. Before Lacy had done that, Sera was a wreck anytime Lacy even came near her if someone was around. Terrified, I thought, that someone would hate them for their love. No amount of reassurance by Lacy, by the Emperor, or even by Prince Lhiam, had calmed Sera until Lacy had, almost annoyed, announced that she would be marrying Ambassador Galen of Akar and Lady Sera of Teren. 

The crowd had been excited, though I could see some confusion, and even some anger and disgust. But I kept hold of Sera's hand, Lacy on her other side, and smiled down at my gorgeous mates. 

Now, my arms wrapped around them both, I took deep breaths, pulling their scent into my lungs, and closed my eyes to the pattering of the rain against the glass of our home. The home I shared with the two women I had been waiting for since I was a child. The two women I would spend the rest of my life thanking Ravin for guiding me to, because they were the perfect loves my soul had been meant to find. 

SERA—

Lacy demanded Galen and I move into Swyer Palace immediately after the fiasco with my father. I fought her as hard as I was able, stating my job as Lhiam's hedge witch, my life in Teren, our relationship needing to be kept a secret for now, her duties to the Empire needing to come before us, and us needing to take things slow so we didn't move too quickly and break our relationship apart before it had even had a chance to flourish. 

Lacy had ignored each and every worry, dragged me to Swyer, threatening to tie me up if I didn't go with her, and almost immediately on arrival announced that not only did she have two lovers— a man and a woman— but she would be marrying them by year's end. 

"Goddess, I love you, mate," Galen had chuckled, his hand clasped in mine as he stared at Lacy, perched on my other side, as pleased as anything as the people— nobles, servants, workers from the city brought up to the palace to hear the announcement, guards of the palace— either cheered or stared up at us with varying degrees of disgust and anger. 

"And I you, Galen," she replied with a smirk, then her eyes turned to mine and her smile dropped into a fierce look of avid determination. "You are _mine_, Sera. You're mine, and Galen is mine, and if the people don't like that, they can fuck themselves. I'm not worried, and you shouldn't be either. You are protected here, you are loved, and everything is going to be alright. Just trust me."

I had nodded, tightening my grip on her hand until she flinched, and returned her smile.

"I trust you, Lacy. I'll trust you until my last breath."

Swyer had two other hedge witches, Tessa and Snow, but with how large the city was, and how often there were visiting nobles and their houses, the poor women were overrun. Lacy had told them I was in charge, without any kind of softening of the blow of suddenly giving them a stranger to manage them, but the women had all but gushed at the sight of me. 

Ecstatic to have more help, especially with the stories that had abounded about my healing Lacy and Galen when I'd not even had any herbs or potions to aid my magic, something I knew most hedge witches couldn't do, especially to the extent I had, they were more than happy to allow me into their gardens, listen to my recommendations, and even allow me to politely suggest changes to processes they currently had in place. 

I was upset, leaving Mistress Silvia behind, and my other friends. But I was soon relieved of my worry and distress. Mistress Silvia had come to Swyer when she'd learned that I wouldn't be returning from Ruleden, even to retrieve my things, as per Princess Lacy's orders, and had brought my clothes, jewelry, and everything from my workroom. She had sworn to keep up my duties as Teren's hedge witch, though she still specialized as a wild hedge witch and had very little patience for humans. She and her wife also promised to visit as often as they were able, and left me with a hug and kiss on each cheek and a promise from Emma to write often and of everything she could think of.

Sami, my ever-present shadow for more than five years, was another I was horrified to be leaving behind. He and Robert had traveled to Swyer with Mistress Silvia and Emma, to guard them and help them bring my personal things. But they had promised to visit as often, or more so than Mistress Silvia and Emma. After a quiet, mostly grunt-filled conversation just out of hearing range between Galen and Sami, I was reassured by a serious, confident Sami that Galen would be beside me when the darkness that plagued my mind inevitably returned. 

I was horrified that Sami had said something about my depression to Galen, but Sami had only rolled his eyes, leapt up to kiss my cheek, and run back around the side of the palace away from me. Robert had chuckled, shaken my hand with a smile, and trundled silently after his wayward mate. 

Galen had moved behind me, pressing a kiss to the back of my neck, and growled low against my skin.

"I'll be here for you as Sami was, no matter what your mind tries to convince you of. If that is what you need, to have my bear there to protect you and keep quiet while you breathe, then you never need even ask. Do you understand me, mate?"

I nodded dumbly, and I could feel his smile against my skin. His words were put to the test only the next day. Woken from a nightmare I could barely remember, with the shade of Grayson's breaths almost painfully hot against my neck, my father's dead eyes staring at me from the ground, and their souls feeling as if they were lingering in my heart, I snuck from the bed. Lacy had woken an hour or so before, but it wasn't rare for her to rise before the sun, leaving us to follow after a few more hours of cuddling together under the warmth of the blankets. 

I left Galen asleep, making my way down to the herb garden Tessa and Snow had cultivated masterfully, and worked my way through to the back, where I'd seen a small patch of grass beneath a young willow tree. The sound of the wind in the trees, and the birds waking around me, seemed to only heighten the pounding of my heart and the feeling of my blood congealing beneath my skin. I was only there a few minutes, maybe ten at most, when huge, lumbering pawsteps had me staring up through the hanging branches of the tree around me into the dark eyes of the man I loved. 

His paws tread lightly on the ground as he moved towards me, digging his wet nose against my face, and I breathed in the scent of him. 

"I'm alright," I whispered, dragging my fingers through his fur. "I'm... you can go back to sleep."

He huffed out a noise, sounding annoyed, maybe, or amused, and then his body was wholly wrapped around me, his warmth like a blanket heated with coal packets covering my entire body. His head dropped onto my lap, his eyes closed, and I leaned into him, breathing in the scent of his fur and the sound of his grumbling sleep-breaths. It wasn't purring, but gods, it was the most soothing sound I'd ever heard. 

We lay there the entire day, silent except for our breaths, wrapped in each other, until Lacy moved into our space and wrapped her arms around me. It wasn't until then that I realized she and Galen must have made some sort of plan, because I hadn't seen Tessa, Snow, or any of the guards who regularly came and went in this garden, and Lacy must have kept them away to give me solitude. 

"Would it be alright if we went back to our rooms? I have the hearth lit, dinner waiting, and a hot bath ready whenever you are."

I huffed out an annoyed breath and glared up at her.

"I'm not an invalid. I'm fine. You both can just leave me when I'm like this, and I'll come back when I'm—"

"—That is not going to happen," Lacy cut in, and I bit back a sob. "Galen and I love you, Sera. If it was truly a comfort to you to be left alone, we'd leave you to yourself. But we know having one of us with you, specifically Galen in his bear form, helps you when you are overwhelmed like this. And I'm not treating you like an invalid. I'm treating you like a woman I love and who I want to care for. Can you let me do that? I'm so helpless in this situation in every other way— I can't turn into a bear to comfort you, I can't take this pain from you— I know you'll live with it for the rest of our lives— but I can be here for you through it. Don't take that from me. Please."

I nodded, the tears that threatened to spill from my eyes making them hot and irritated. Galen's breaths against my stomach had me glancing down into his huge, warm eyes, and I nodded again. 

"Thank you," I replied, and both of my lovers nodded. 

"You don't have to thank us. Just let us be here for you when you need us, and that will be thanks enough. Now come, please. Unless you need more time?"

I shook my head and stood, unsteady on my feet from lack of food and of movement the entire day. Lacy on one side, Galen on the other, his huge, furry body a comfort against the nightmares and darkness that had plagued me, we made our way back to our shared suite of rooms. It was separate but near the Emperor's, huge and sprawling, with a bedroom, an attached washroom, a library and combined study, and a front sitting room with a hearth, a handful of comfortable armchairs, and the table and chairs we sometimes dined together at. The balcony, though, was my favorite part of my new home. Galen had helped me move a dozen of my favorite flowers and plants, even a small potted tree, to the balcony, along with a small table and three chairs. Sitting out there as the sun rose or set had become something we tried to do as often as we could, since we, especially Lacy, tended to be busy enough we often didn't see each other until we were ready to pass out in our beds. 

I'd stumbled into the room, and for the next few hours allowed both Galen and Lacy to pamper me. Lacy and I bathed together, Galen helping us both from the tub, then we ate wrapped in thick robes on a pile of blankets and pillows set up just before the hearth. 

We did all this in silence except for a few quiet murmurs between Lacy and Galen, for which I was grateful. When the darkness took over as it had that morning, my senses tended to get so overwhelmed that even the slightest touch or scent could send me deeper. I was extremely thankful that neither Galen's nor Lacy's touches were unwelcome even in the state I was in, and I let them prod and gently pull me from one place to another. 

Their lovemaking that night was quiet, warm, and so gentle. I came with a silent sob, Galen's mouth around my penis, his fingers teasing my balls, my taint, and my hole, Lacy's lips on mine, her fingers taunting my nipples, and their bodies wrapped around mine. They then turned to each other, twisting themselves so they could put their mouths on each other, and I watched, sleepy and sated, as they came on each other's tongues. 

Galen hadn't yet penetrated Lacy. She'd said it was something she was interested in, though she'd never had "sex with a real cock,"—gods, I'd blushed like a schoolgirl at her words— but with the fear of pregnancy, even with the conception blockers I could brew for her, they decided to wait until after the wedding, just in case she became pregnant. Eventually, Lacy would have Galen's child. This was something we spoke of, and something we were all happy and excited about, except maybe Lacy. Though she knew her duty as Empress was to produce an heir, and she was happy to have Galen's child specifically, being a mother wasn't something she had ever really wanted, especially having the child herself. She and Riece had even spoken, when they had been making their contingency plans for if I continued to refuse Lacy and she had to find another woman to marry, about how to get her future wife pregnant so she wouldn't have to bear the child. Galen and I had looked at each other when she'd confessed this, and begun to assure her that if she didn't want children, she'd never have to have them. 

"It's a good thing the child will have _two_ mothers and a father," she'd said before we could really begin to protest against her forcing herself to do something she didn't want to do with her body. "I want to do this, for the two of you, because I know it would make you both happy to be parents. It's not what I would have wanted, but if having the two of you in my life as the greatest gifts I've ever been given has taught me anything, it's to go with the flow and accept whatever life throws my way. Look how much happiness I have, just in accepting a life I never could have imagined for myself?" 

She seemed sure, so we left it be for the time being. Galen and I, though, would bring the topic up again in the future. Because nothing he or I wanted was worth her unhappiness. And to the hells with what anyone else wanted or required of her body. That wasn't even a factor in either my or Galen's mind, I knew. We cared about having a child, because it was something both he and I wanted. An heir for the Empire was the last thing that would be considered when we spoke of it again. 

With the herbs I took each day, I'd never be able to impregnate Lacy, even if I was to ever penetrate her, though I doubted I would. It was not a sex act I was fond of, or that I thought I'd ever be comfortable with, though Lacy sure was. Only a week after Galen and I had moved in, she'd pulled out a wooden trunk from beneath her bed, opened it, met my eyes, then Galen's, smirked, and proceeded to pull out some kind of contraption made of straps of silk. 

The large marble penis had me gasping and putting my hand over my mouth, and when she tied it over her naked hips she burst out laughing as she looked at both Galen and me, staring at her with wide eyes, the both of us.

"My turn," she crowed, and Galen and I were both shown that night the way Lacy had misspent her youth. Galen was especially happy as we lay together that night, sated and spent, his ass twitching and raw, his cock limp and wet, depleted against his thigh, having hardly been touched that night. 

"Never lose that thing," he'd groaned, swiping his hand through the mix of my and his semen on his stomach and staring up at Lacy as she cleaned the marble penis and put it back into its trunk. "And please, goddess, tell me you have more toys in that box."

LACY—

Nearly four months after the announcement of our engagement and Sera and Galen moving into my suite of rooms with me, we received word from Akar that Galen's father was coming to the wedding. Galen had been surprised, but happily so, because he hadn't been sure anyone would be able to come. He had known his cousin Geir wouldn't, because he'd said he knew his cousin would stay behind with his new babe. The child was barely born a few months before, and so would not be able to travel yet. According to Galen, he and his cousin had been close before he'd left to travel as the ambassador for Akar, and he missed his family in Akar greatly. 

I had begun planning for Sera, Galen, and I to visit Akar, as soon as possible after our wedding as a kind of honeymoon. I would never be able to after I'd taken the throne of We'ren, but as a political envoy I could travel there and meet Galen's family, see his homeland, and let him see his loved ones for what might be the last time. They could always visit us, but Akar was so far away it wasn't likely to happen often, if at all. 

Though he missed them, it didn't seem to bother him too much. Galen seemed happy just to be by our sides. Though a few of the councillors scolded him for it repeatedly, and Cain laughed aloud each time they did, Galen could frequently be found in his bear form, at my side during meetings. Resting his head in my lap, or asleep on my feet, he was like a giant dog and I felt safe with him there to protect me. Unlike Sera, who needed to make her own way with her work, to feel like she was earning her keep, and just to use the gift the goddess had given her, Galen seemed perfectly content spending his days split between me and Sera. He was either by my side, or helping Sera with her duties. He tended to like his bear form, maybe because it was easier to keep us safe that way, and the people of the palace grew used to him fairly quickly. Visitors, however, were another story. 

I couldn't count the amount of times a foreign ambassador or visiting dignitary had caused a ruckus when they ran into Galen wandering the halls on his way to or from me or Sera, or when they came to greet me and found him at my side. Galen seemed to find the instances amusing, but Sera always turned a little pale and watched for my reaction when Galen recounted the stories back to her. 

My people seemed split on accepting Galen and Sera, and split on which was worse: the foreign man who turned into a bear, or the woman who was born a man. But with a little time, with Sera's sweet patience and care of their sick and injured, and Galen's gentle, placid calmness and his protectiveness of their future Empress, most accepted them and even grew to love them. I had a few dissenters, men and women who left my council, refused to accept me as the Emperor's heir, and even threatened to split from We'ren. They were, for the most part, the ones Riece and I had known would be problematic, and so we were prepared and handled them accordingly. 

Overall, everything went smoothly, and though Sera wasn't happy with having to plan it, our wedding moved forward with hardly a hitch. 

Sera's nightmares kept her up many nights, but they died down over time until she slept with only a few waking her before the sun rose, and those only happening rarely. We kept her dark power a secret, with only those I'd told after it happened and the three of us aware of it, and I hoped and prayed she'd never have to use it again. I knew it ate at her, tore at her scarred soul, but I couldn't help but thank Eses every day that she had gifted Sera with the power. With my frequent nightmares of the sorcerer mercenary, many of which also featured his blood slave begging me to free him, to help him, to save him from the torture I couldn't help but feel he somehow still endured, I knew we may not have made it out of Ruleden alive if she hadn't taken the lives of Sir Grayson and her father. And though she would live with that for the rest of her life, just as I'd live with feeling the phantom bite mark on my breast, though it had healed without a scar, she would at least be _living_ with it. 

Unlike Sera's, my nightmares never woke my lovers. But I knew they both sensed them, because I would wake on a gasp, my body covered in sweat, and, never waking, Galen would wrap himself almost painfully tight around me. Sera would sigh, dip her head, and lay her lips against the spot on my breast where the bite mark had lain. I could feel her healing magic sparking along our joined skin, almost seeming to seek out an injury I didn't have. This happened each time, and it wasn't until the dozenth time that I was able to let the tears fall from my eyes, cathartic and freeing, and bask in the comfort of their bodies around mine and the safety their arms around me provided. 

Sera had debated seemingly endlessly on how to form the wedding, and had finally decided that Galen would wait at the altar and both I and she would walk down the aisle to him, separately. I would be walked by my cousin Lhiam on one side and Riece on the other, Sera by a trussed up Sami— because we all knew it would take all of us to tackle him into a suit— and a very uncomfortable-looking Cain, and we would say our vows to each other, formed into a circle, each holding the other's hands. 

And when we stood before the priest and promised to love and honor and cherish each other for the rest of our lives, surrounded by those who we loved and who loved us, I would have what I had never thought I could have. I would have Sera, the woman I had fallen in love with before I'd known what love was. And I would have Galen, the man who had come out of nowhere to show me that sometimes the unexpected was the very best of gifts from Fate.


	28. Epilogue Two: Naviir, Prince of Sorrows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *****Trigger warning*****

I woke with a jerk, my body heaving with pain, my mind racing as I tried to remember where I was. Who I was. What had happened to me. I twisted, coughing, spitting against the dirt beneath me. 

Once my throat was clear and my lungs were no longer on fire, I looked up and around. I was in a cave of some kind, dark and wet, moss and things alive, with tails and long limbs, creeping up the stone. I shivered in the damp, my arms wrapping around my naked body. My body that, despite the centuries of torture— physical, psychological, and sexual— had not a scar on it. 

Because the damned don't scar. 

I stood on shaking knees, ready for whatever fresh hell my... 

I coughed again, the curse forcing even my mind into submission as I thought of Gaol, the god that had cursed me into a thousand lifetimes of slavery and torture. Each new master was worse than the last, each with their own unique forms of torture. The master who had just killed me, split me apart as I jumped in front of the blade for the beautiful woman with the mates given her by the goddess Ravin, had been a sorcerer possessed by a sadistic demon that liked to see how far it could push my body before I either broke and begged, and he could crow his victory over me, or until I died.

He especially loved watching me hack and cough my way back into life.

"_For the rest of eternity, I hope you remember this moment_," Gaol had whispered in my ear as he held me down beneath him, the blade in my heart pulling every bit of me out of my body and into its depths. "_I hope you remember this while you're being eaten alive, and raped, and cut apart piece by piece. I hope you remember my face each time you beg for death and it is not granted to you. Remember my face, you bastard, and know that I was—_"

"—And what do we have here?" a voice called from behind me, breaking into Gaol's words ringing in my ears for the millionth time since his curse turned me into a slave only to sadistic masters. If one died, my body found its way to the closest, most evil creature the magic of the curse could sense. So I knew I needed to brace for a new kind of evil. One so, so much worse than the last. 

Because they always were. One worse than the last, worse than the last, worse than the last. Forever. For the rest of eternity.

Gods, they were always so much wor—... _Gods help me please!_

The new voice echoed off of the empty stone around me a dozen times before I turned, feeling the tug on my neck as the blood bond with my new master fell into place. He felt it too— I could see it in the way his glowing eyes grew darker, the excitement and sadistic lust rising until he was nearly panting with it. 

I fell to my knees, praying to any gods who might be merciful, though I knew with my millennia of torment none of them were, not to me— that I wouldn't survive this new master. That this one, somehow, would find a way to end my life for good. That this one would have the power to defy a god and let me find peace. 

It wasn't much, but it was a hope I clung to as my new master, licking his lips and cracking his knuckles, stalked towards me. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *****How was it? Did you like Sera/Galen/Lacy's story? Leave me some feedback, questions, comments! I'll see you in a few days for River/Griffin's story <3
> 
> Oh, and P.S. Naviir gets a story. But not until Strange Magics Book Eight! He might pop up every once in a while though, along with his SO, though separately of course :) *****


End file.
